[Image via Digiart2001/Flickr]
Last night saw the official launch of the high-end mall beneath the Plaza hotel. Twenty-two shops, ranging from the British mobile phone company Vertu (which was the first to open back in April) to another branch of the Nolita boutique Seize sur Vignt, occupy the "legendary Edwardian Room and expansive Grand Concourse" (as per the Plaza website.) Of course, that's luxury-hotel speak for "down there in the basement." At the launch party last night, the Observer found at least once skeptic who pointed out that a nearby basement mall that opened just after the 1987 crash only lasted a few years. The mall's general manager, though, didn't sound worried: "There's a new level of wealth in this city that's very important," he said, "and this hotel is strictly luxury." Maybe he's been too busy with the launch to read any newspapers lately?
· Storecasting: The Plaza Gets Seized [Racked]
· Meanwhile, at the Plaza [Racked]
· Finicky New Yorkers May Not Warm to an Underground Mall [NYO]For more stories from Racked, go to racked.com.
