Le Tote brings Lord & Taylor back to NYC with SoHo pop-up

By

Gabriella Lacombe

Published
Dec 10, 2019

Under its new owner, Le Tote, Lord & Taylor is making its way back to New York via a pop-up shop in SoHo. 

Located at 138 Wooster Street, the roughly 2,400 square-foot pop-up will run from December 11 through Christmas Eve, and will offer a range of products, including Lord & Taylor’s cashmere selection as well as items like jewelry and cosmetics. In addition, the pop-up will allow visitors to explore Le Tote’s clothing rental subscription service. 

According to a CNBC report, the pop-up’s location and product assortment were chosen to delight longtime fans of the department store and attract younger consumers to a newer and distinctly downsized Lord & Taylor, compared to the roughly 700,000 square-feet occupied by the brand’s former Fifth Avenue flagship.

“We want [this SoHo store] to signal we are investing in the business. It’s not going away,” Le Tote co-founder and president Brett Northart said in an interview with CNBC. “This pop-up ... is a way for us to really collect feedback and understand what people are looking for…If we keep doing things the same way they have been done, ... [we’re] going to fail.”

The pop-up marks Lord & Taylor's return to New York since its famed flagship on Fifth Avenue closed its doors in January, after 104 years.

Le Tote acquired Lord & Taylor from Hudson’s Bay Company for $100 million in cash in November, after HBC announced in August that it would be selling the business in order to focus on other key brands in its portfolio, particularly Saks Fifth Avenue. 

As part of the sale, HBC will continue to pay rent on the 38 Lord & Taylor locations currently in operation for the next three years, after which the company will reassess the store network in consultation with Le Tote.