Lafayette 148 to Change Location on Madison Avenue

Lafayette 148 is taking over a new location on Madison Avenue .

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The brand is leaving its space at 956 Madison Avenue, where it has been the last five years, to move to 853 Madison Avenue, four blocks south on 71st Street. It will move into the new store on Sept. 3.

“On May 1, we found out that after five years they were giving the space to L’Agence,” said Deirdre Quinn, chief executive officer of Lafayette 148 . “We had to find a better spot, and we found a better spot,” she said.

They are vacating the former three-level 3,600-square-foot location (that also had a basement) at the end of the month. The new location is two levels and 4,200 square feet, said Quinn.

The former location, which was in a landmarked building, featured a two-story entry, which opened to an 1,800-square-foot ground floor. The 1,500-square-foot second floor floated above with glass ceilings, and served as both a showroom and salon for private client services. The salon was dedicated to personal shopping and had an on-site seamstress and alterations team. The store was designed with a modern, minimalist aesthetic with luxurious accents, including marble and stone finished set pieces, oak flooring and leather risers, as reported.

But despite all the hoopla when Lafayette 148 landed on Madison after 23 years in business, Quinn said she’s excited about the new location.

“It’s a bigger space, it’s equal in size to our Greene Street store. Greene Street and Madison are both flagship stores. They’re both 2,500 square feet on level one. We really did find a better spot. I’m so happy,” she said.

Lafayette 148 will be situated between Lanvin and Officine Générale.

“Madison is shifting south, so we’re happy to shift south,” continued Quinn. She said that the store is opening just four months after they heard the news. “We met with the owners, it’s a co-op building, they loved our brand and they loved our story, and it looked like a great cultural fit on both sides. That’s really important to us,” she said.

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“I was upset, but I’m really happy now. That’s what entrepreneurs do, we figure it out. We move forward, our sales people are excited,” said Quinn.

She said they are still operating the other Madison Avenue store until Aug. 24 and will vacate Aug. 31.

“We’re moving in and we’ll take a minute . . . we’re obviously making the brand aesthetic for our customers, and then we’ll remodel when time permits. For now, it will be open for Q4, which is the most important time of the year. It’s fashion week, and we’re really excited that we pulled this off,” said Quinn.

Currently, Lafayette 148 has 12 stores in the U.S., and overall including China there are 30 stores.

“Madison and SoHo [59 Greene] are both flagship stores for the company. Our brand was founded in SoHo, so SoHo is really important. But our customer is also on Madison. It’s so fun for me to see both New York stores are equal and are running neck-and-neck,” she said.

Looking at current business, Quinn said, “Our business is trending up. July is trending up,” she said.

For fall, she added, “I’m planning conservatively. I’m optimistic we’ll be in single-digit growth to last year.”

Lafayette 148 is having a presentation during NYFW on Sept. 9 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 50 Ninth Avenue.

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