Louis Vuitton Unveils Temp NY Store

As work gets underway on renovating the Louis Vuitton flagship on 5th Avenue in New York, the Maison has opened an ambitious temporary space at 6 East 57th St.

The five-floor store – which the retailer said is the largest Louis Vuitton space in the United States – “promises an immersive experience where luxury, culture and gastronomy converge,” according to a project description on the website of parent company LVMH (Paris).

Highlights of the temporary store’s interior include:

• An installation in the space’s atrium of 90 Courrier Lozine trunks “ascends to the ceiling in tribute to the House’s trunk-making heritage, while a vertical wall of Keepall and Speedy bags reflects a vibrant modernity,” per the description.
• On the fourth floor, a Le Café Louis Vuitton is conceived “as a café-cum-library space, featuring more than 600 titles curated by editor Ian Luna,” the project overview says. “The culinary journey is an alliance of refinement and creativity, orchestrated by chefs Christophe Bellanca and Marie George under French chefs Arnaud Donckele and Maxime Frédéric for a distinctive ‘luxury snacking’ concept.”
• A Le Chocolat Maxime Frédéric shop, also on the fourth floor, offers handcrafted specialties and exclusive collectible capsule collection.
• The fifth floor is home to private retail lounge spaces and the label’s homeware collections.

Vuitton expects the temporary space to be used for two or three years, depending on how long the flagship renovation takes. In its coverage of the interim space, Women’s Wear Daily noted that this is not its first go-round in such a use: it was previously occupied by a Tiffany & Co. store while that brand’s Fifth Avenue location, now dubbed The Landmark, underwent a multiyear renovation. Before that, the site housed a Nike store.