[EXCLUSIVE] Yves Saint Laurent To Open Store at Phipps Plaza

Well-placed sources tell ToNeTo Atlanta that the upcoming expanded Gucci store at Phipps Plaza will actually be joined by fellow Kering brand Saint Laurent (YSL).  The new YSL store is expected to open adjacent to the new Gucci, in space Gucci itself currently occupies.

ToNeTo Atlanta has heard for months that the new YSL store was happening but permits filed today with the City of Atlanta confirm it.  The store, located in space 1088B (current Gucci), will be renovated to become Atlanta's YSL boutique.  Permits indicate that the store will be 2,472 square feet and that the company plans to spend just under $1 million on the build-out.  

Yves Henri Donat Mathieu-Saint-Laurent, professionally known as Yves Saint-Laurent, was a French fashion designer who, after designing for the House of Dior, founded his eponymous fashion label in 1961.

Paris-based Kering, an international luxury group, also owns fellow Phipps Plaza retailer Bottega Veneta, as well as Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Brioni, among others.  Kering purchased YSL in 1999.   

YSL, as some in Atlanta will recall, has a unique connection to the metro Area.   In the early 1960s, Atlanta native  businessman J. Mack Robinson owned an insurance company in Switzerland. One day, Mr. Robinson received a call saying that Yves Saint Laurent was looking for a financial backer.  Saint Laurent had been designing for the House of Dior but wanted to start his own fashion house. Mr. Robinson met with Mr. Saint Laurent and decided to make the investment and finance what would become  the YSL fashion house.  

Because he did not feel it was prudent for an insurance company to make such a risky investment, Mr. Robinson made the investment personally.  By the late 1960s, with an increasingly active role in the company and a hectic travel schedule from Atlanta to Paris, Robinson made what he called one of the most difficult decisions of his business career, and sold his partnership for $1 million because he did not want to move his family to Paris.

Site of the upcoming Saint Laurent store at Phipps Plaza 

It's unclear how wide a variety of products the Phipps Plaza boutique will carry, but something tells us the market for this $17,000 Eiffel Tower varsity jacket from the women's ready-to-wear line is pretty slim.  

Are you excited for the addition of YSL to Phipps Plaza?  Have you ever been to a YSL boutique?  What luxury brand would you most like to see enter the Atlanta market?

Please share your thoughts below