The city's "Gold Coast" is slowly become untenable ground, as more and more retailers head south to weather the recession. The latest shuttering is YSL's luxurious outpost, meaning fans can now only head to its 57th Street store.
Fashion Week Daily reports that the YSL boutique at 885 Madison closed with little fanfare, and though the brand is apparently interested in opening another second location, the location and timeframe are undisclosed (meaning: could be quite a while). The brand joins a long list of retailers who've recent fled Madison -- from Miu Miu to Juicy Couture and most recently Issey Miyake.
The moves over the past two years have been so significant that it even garnered a writeup in The New York Times back in April of 2009, where broker Alan Victor said, "This is the worst I've ever seen it." The cause of the shift is partly high rents, but honestly, it seems like the most captivating shopping areas nowadays are in midtown (around the major department stores) and downtown (Soho and the West Village). The tapestry of the avenue will likely continue to change, likely skewing a bit more affordable as newcomers like Nanette Lepore and CH by Carolina Herrera (the designer's lower-priced line) arrive on the scene,
