Henri Bendel will soon open their first location in Atlanta. Taking a portion of what was one of the largest Victoria's Secret stores in the nation, Bendel will be located to the right of PINK and Victoria's Secret. Having purchased Bendel in 1985, Limited Brands seems to think the space at Lenox is best for Bendel. In early spring 2009, Bendel made the decision to stop carrying apparel at its stores and instead focus on accessories, cosmetics and home items. Oddly enough, it was in fall 09 that Limited Brands most recently expanded the stores at Lenox, with three separate entrances yielding the resulting three store unit among the largest in the country.
Bendel’s flagship 5th Avenue location is very popular and is often featured in the popular CW show Gossip Girl. Personally, I've visited the chains locations in Aventura and Boca Raton,Florida and their flagship on Fifth Avenue. The chain would seem to be a good fit for the Buckhead mall.
I reached out to SIMON representatives for comment on the store and its opening and was met with shock, and more questions than answers. With no official word to go on, I'd surmise the store will be open by early fall.
3 comments:
Great scoop, as always, Eli!
During my decade in New York, I'd stop in Bendel once in a while and it always had exceptional merchandise.
It'll be welcome in Lenox.
Bendel's was once a great fashion store. Not impressed with the direction Limited is taking with Bendel's .It is now essentially a high end Bath and Body Works. So not excited about this store opening in Atlanta.
With the recession many retailers are looking to downsize their square footage,so I assume the large format VS was not generating the desired sales at Lenox thus the decision to downsize VS and put Bendel's in a portion of the space.
Simon probably had nothing to do with this decision as Limited has the right in their lease to reformat their spaces with whatever concept they desire
I have to agree with anonymous, Bendel's isn't as spectacular as it use to be, especially since Limited Brands took over. I'd been shopping at the 5th Ave store since the late 80's and there was a beautiful Michigan Ave store in Chicago in the 90's, when Bendel's was something to get excited about. None-the-less, I'll still pop in to the Lenox location this fall.
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