The Tom Ford store in Beverly Hills |
Tom Ford is coming to Buckhead Atlanta
New York-based fashion house Tom Ford will open in Buckhead Atlanta next year. Tom Ford's (reported) lease at the posh Buckhead project is the second significant recent signing at the project following the announcement that Dior will open in the project next year. (Very well placed sources indicate the lease was signed last week, but I have thus far been unable to get that confirmed officially.)
Tom Ford was reportedly considering first floor space in Phipps Plaza that would have provided Peachtree Road visibility but decided to open in Buckhead Atlanta instead.
There are only a handful of Tom Ford boutiques in the country (Chicago, New York, Beverly Hills and Las Vegas, to name a few) and getting one in Atlanta in quite the coup for Buckhead Atlanta.
Tom Ford was founded in 2005 by designer Tom Ford after he left Gucci Group. Ford was Creative Director of both Yves Saint Laurent and Gucci before departing the company amidst a dispute over "artistic control."
Tom Ford features a variety of men's and women's clothing as well as fragrances and accessories. Tom Ford positions itself as a premium luxury brand selling items such as $600+ long sleeve button down shirts and $165+ pocket squares for men and $1500+ pumps for women.
With Dior and Tom Ford opening, Chanel, long rumored to be "looking at the Atlanta market," may finally be wooed into town. It's believed that the recent openings and later retailer announcements were meant to create the perfect environment in which to showcase the project to potential additions like Chanel.
Do you think Tom Ford is making the right decision to open in Buckhead Atlanta over Phipps Plaza? Do you think Atlanta will support Tom Ford? What retailer would you most like to see open in Buckhead Atlanta?
Please share your thoughts below.
18 comments:
Serious question: who shops at Hermes, Tom Ford, etc. in Atlanta? New York is awash with hedge funders, bankers and tourists. Beverly Hills has Hollywood and tourists. Vegas has tourists. Atlanta... I can see a handful of SunTrust bankers or King & Spalding attorneys splurging for an Hermes tie, but not $600 Tom Ford shirts. Where are the big spenders in Atlanta getting their money?
@Anon
You make some great points and pose a serious question that I too have. I think we will see a "correction" in the market in 12-18 months.
Thanks for your comments and readership.
@ anon
The answer to your question is the same people that have kept Saint John, Burberry, Fendi and Jimmy Choo just to name a few in business the many years that they have been in the Atlanta market. Trust and believe that Tom ford along with Dior has done its research before bursting into the Atlanta market.
Agree with Mstarr. Since I moved here in 2002 I wondered where all the money was coming from. I used to be in investment banking in NYC and that made sense to me, but after 12 years here, and plenty of evidence of lots of $$ here in tha ATL, I've stopped wondering.
Plenty of people with money live in Buckhead and the northern suburbs. There are also people with money in the surrounding states that are going to come here to Atlanta to shop because these stores will be the closest location to them. Just because your bank account is in the negative does not mean everyone else account is. Also Atlanta had more visitors than Las Vegas last year and Im sure those visitors will want to spend money at BA (look it up). Stop the hating.
I don't understand this hatred of the Buckhead Atlanta development. I don't shop at any of these stores either, but I'd rather have them than that giant eyesore or dirt and rebar that was there before. I think Atlanta and the surrounding areas do have people with money, I think we also have lots of tourists as well. That's who will shop there. Maybe these people are maxed out and leveraged to the hilt, but who cares?
The development is very well done most will attract enough business. Tom Ford is a big name in the hip-hop / R&B industry and will kill it here.
Atlanta is full of "quiet" big $. One drive down Tuxedo Rd. will show you that. That said, i think the success of BA as an ultra high end center is at best 50/50. Initial reports on Shake Shack are good... Good food and its been rocking with lines out the door at times. But its a $7 burger joint, not $1,500 shoes:)
Also - I wish people would stop quoting the Atlanta vs Vegas visitors thing because it's not clear that it is apples to apples.
What are they coming here for? Work or play? If it is work then it's not their choice to come to Atlanta. If it is for play then I will not believe that Atlanta drew more tourists than Vegas. Tourism and visitors are two different things.
The point Anonymous @3:05 PM was making is that people visiting Atlanta for business reasons are not here because they WANT to be here. They are "forced" visitors, and are thus much less likely to go shopping or visit tourist attractions.
That makes absolutely no sense. A visitor is a visitor. If they can afford to visit they can afford to spend money. They aren't just going to sit in their hotel room watching TV and eating Captain Crunch cereal. They are going to be out eating, shopping and seeing the city. Again stop the hating. Atlanta has more visitors than Las Vegas last year.Btw slavery is over. No one is forced to go anywhere anymore. Stop crying because Atlanta had more visitors than your fav city. BTW I was forced to go to Vegas and I still spent money there since I don't gamble.
"Atlanta is full of "quiet" big $." Agree with this point completely, and most of the old money are not conspicuous consumers. The old guard buys upscale on sale. It will be the limited number of Carrie Brandshaw types that make or break BA. I also agree with the fact the market will correct itself, although a bit longer due to these retailer's investment in BA and the economic climate due to politics and elections.
There is plenty of money in Atlanta to support these stores. My best friend worked for Armani before the recession. He made huge commission checks and was able to take his top client to fashion week in Paris.
I was also friends with a girl who graduated law school but couldn't land a job at a firm. She started working for Chanel and is making is making more money than she ever dreamed.
My career puts me in contact with people with very well paying jobs. One is a young kid, mid-twenties. He works at a luxury auto dealership and clears over $10k a month.
I believe BA will be a success because we have enough money in the region alone to support it, not to mention the locations being the closest ones for many of the wealthy around the Southeast. When it comes to the visitor discussion, there is a lot of merit in discerning between a tourist and a visitor, but understand that Atlanta gets way more tourism than the average person would think due to many festivals that are pretty big in their individual areas, MLK and all the history surrounding the Civil Rights Movement, and the massive conventions we hold.
Anonymous harping on ATL getting more visitors than Vegas...have you ever traveled for work? Most work travel consists of fly in, head to meetings, and fly out. Unless it is for a consulting job or conference very rarely does employee travel involve going out to the finest shopping destinations. I guarantee you the actual tourism dollars spent is greater in Vegas than Atlanta, which is where the focus should be.
Good grief. The well heeled clientele that will determine the success of Buckhead Atlanta haute retailers are not the type that blog about it or contribute to these types of conversations (myself included). The high end shops in Vegas are there for the big spenders and winners. Most definitely apples to oranges comparison when looking at Atlanta vs. NY or Vegas. In fact, this whole conversation is bananas!
He works at a luxury auto dealership and clears over $10k a month.
That's not wealth, that's cash flow. $120K/yr is the minor leagues.
There is a lot of money in this town, but it comes out in very different ways. I've seen very plainly-dressed women in running shoes and jeans dropping $2K on a crate of vintage wine and having it loaded into a 20-year old Land Cruiser. Rich southerners just don't spend their money the same way they do in New York. And New York is a whole different level of wealth.
I wish these businesses and employees the very best. If there's that kind of money in this town, so much the better.
Atlanta is all about the location and zip code. The $ is here and plenty people who know quality with style, design with creativity will be more than Happy with Mr. Ford.
Welcome to Atlanta.
I've lived in Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York.
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