Though Greenwich”™s retail thoroughfare, Greenwich Avenue, continues to bustle with affluent patrons, large shop storefronts have been steadily closing their doors, with Coach Inc. as the most recent victim.
“I think it”™s a symptom of the times,” said Ronald J. Brien, Realtor with M. H. Heaven Real Estate in Greenwich.
Brien said asking rents on vacant space on Greenwich Avenue are down slightly but demand remains high.
“I”™m pretty bullish on Greenwich Avenue,” he said.
Lew Frankfort, CEO of Coach, said the Manhattan-based leather company has recently indicated its consumer spending for its leather goods and accessories is no longer dropping and reported fiscal third-quarter earnings and sales that topped analysts’ expectations.
“We feel we’ve turned the corner,” Frankfort said.
According to Frankfort the closing, one of three nationwide, was to reduce some expenses with these locations due to high rents and lower customer traffic.
Frankfort said the company is searching for a happy balance.
“Coach products still carry cachet, but are not priced beyond the reach of customers affected by the poor economy,” he said. “We want to be accessible to the consumer who has been impacted by the recession and also be appealing to those who have money and might be reluctant to spend.”
The location that Coach leased in 2005 was formerly a Chico”™s apparel store.
“I look at the number of storefronts that there are vacant and I see the changeover rate as fast and pretty low,” said Mary Ann Morrison, president and CEO of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce. “We have a lot of construction going on Greenwich Avenue. There are a few places that don”™t have tenants yet, but there is also a lot of construction going on.”
This year, Greenwich Avenue has also seen large retailers Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Borders close their doors.
According to a company spokesperson, Borders shut its branch on the avenue in January in an effort to close underperforming stores. Ann Taylor left later in the same month as part of a company program to close 117 underperforming locations by 2010.
Banana Republic closed last summer due to location and performance, according to the company.
As far as those moving onto the avenue, Brien said La Pan Quotidien of Manhattan has leased 23,000 square feet; an Apple computer store is under construction, taking the place of the Greenwich Movie Theatre; apparel retailer Courage B from Scarsdale, N.Y,. is taking a 1,200-square-foot space formerly a furniture store which consolidated space; and a Janie and Jack store is coming as well as a Cote De Jour.
According to Morrison, Courage B, a family owned and operated business, would never have considered the investment in a Greenwich Avenue location were it not for the reduction in rents for new tenants.
“There”™s a lot of new shops going in at the bottom of the avenue,” said Brien. “I think the bottom of Greenwich Avenue is going to be more popular than it was before.”
Brien said he sees vacancies in New Canaan leaving longer term gaps in the retail sectors rather than in Westport and Greenwich where he predicts continued demand and quick replacements of tenants. Morrison said many retailers are working on streamlining their operations, cutting inventory and working to offer cheaper products.
Adam Zeiberg, a Greenwich Avenue real estate broker, said though the avenue has lost some shops, the multi-tiered hill, sometimes referred to as Rodeo Drive-East remains a prime retail location and, demographics-wise, is still home to 100 hedge funds and many of their staff.
“The first there months of this year we were very much aware of the stress in people lives,” she said.
People are starting to realize that life can go on and are out on the avenue once again, with retail parking being pushed to capacity as early as April, Morrison said.
According to Prudential Connecticut Realty, home sales in Greenwich have corresponded with retail closings in Greenwich, dropping 77 percent in February.
Peter Tesei, first selectman of Greenwich, said the town, which relies on income from conveyance taxes and building permits, has seen revenue decline $10 million since September.
Zeiberg said although people are being more careful with their money, Greenwich affluence has not decreased as much as many people would think and the location is as prime as ever.
“They have tremendous amounts of money,” he said.
