What that means is that retailers with strong brands, particularly those at the luxury end of the market, are capitalising on their brand name to design products for potential customers at lower price points. Thus, Armani has Giorgio Armani, its most upmarket outlet, along with Emporium Armani, its lower priced outlet aimed at young, fashion- conscious shoppers. For retailers content to allow their different lines to co-exist in the same outlet, that means much bigger outlets. For those seeking to maintain the differentiation, it means more shops, she says. Restaurateurs, she says, are jumping on the bandwagon.
Restaurants now do everything.
In other words, only 40 per cent of new eateries fail within their first year. Retailers selling fashion now want to sell the bangle bracelet along with it, as well as the scarf and the perfume. While the size of traditional stores were between 500 and 1,000 sq ft, it is now common for retailers to seek 20,000 to 40,000 sq ft to get their message across. New Yorkers still want affordable options in their own neighbourhood, says Mr Futterman. The rise in rents, along with the redevelopment of some of Manhattan's seediest neighbourhoods for residential and commercial use, is spreading retail establishments into the most unlikely places.