A piece of Paris has landed in New York City.
French luxury retailer Printemps officially opened its first U.S. store this week in the city’s Financial District. The retailer celebrated its opening on Friday, which coincided with the start of spring — its namesake.
The 55,000-square-foot store spans two floors and carries a wide range of merchandise, including clothing, shoes, handbags, makeup and more. About 25% of its brands are either not available or rare in the U.S., such as the Joseph Duclos brand, a French luxury name that made a handbag sported by Taylor Swift, Printemps CEO Jean-Marc Bellaiche said.
In an interview with CNBC, Bellaiche said the retailer aims to stand out from other luxury players with the store’s eye-catching architecture; unique mix of popular luxury brands and hard-to-find French brands; and programming and services, which include beauty and spa treatments and clothing and accessory repairs.
Printemps Group was founded in 1865 and operates 20 department stores in France. Compared with its French stores, the U.S. location has more of an experiential bent, with rotating displays of merchandise resembling pop-up shops and food concepts, including a restaurant and a café with French pastries. Its playful design is inspired by a Parisian apartment, and it is located at One Wall Street, a historic Art Deco skyscraper.
For instance, one of the highlights of the Printemps store is the Red Room. The Art Deco-style room was decorated floor to ceiling with red and gold mosaics by master muralist Hildreth Meière and completed in 1931. It was previously a reception room and banking hall for the Irving Trust and Bank Company, and was designated an interior landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Printemps restored the room and turned it into a “shoe forest” where shoppers can browse for footwear or order a glass of wine at a nearby bar.
The store also will include Maison Passerelle, a fine dining restaurant steered by Gregory Gourdet, a two-time Top Chef finalist and three-time James Beard award winner. It will open in April.
Printemps is opening the U.S. store as luxury spending slows across the globe. Even some wealthier consumers have pulled back on discretionary purchases because of inflation and economic uncertainty. In China, a key market for higher-end goods, luxury spending has not bounced back to pre-pandemic levels.
Sales in the global luxury industry are projected to grow 1% to 3% annually through 2027, according to a report last month by consulting firm Kearney. The report attributed the slowdown to weaker demand among Chinese consumers, inflationary pressures in the U.S. and economic uncertainty fueled by trade disruptions and policy changes by the Trump administration.
That is a marked change from 2020 to 2021, when global luxury spending jumped about 27%, according to Kearney’s report. Global luxury spending across goods and services totaled an estimated $500 billion in 2024.
Still, Brian Ehrig, one of the report’s authors and a partner in Kearney’s consumer practice, said the U.S. remains an attractive market for luxury brands because of consumers’ resilience.
“On a relative basis, we have the healthiest economy, if you look at the major economies,” he said. “And then the other thing is, Americans love to shop.”
Ehrig added that other high-end retailers have doubled down on investments in large and eye-catching physical stores, too, such as LVMH-owned Tiffany & Co. and Louis Vuitton opening new stores in New York City. He said the in-person experience is more critical in a sector where items come with such high price tags and expectations for personal service.
“There’s something special about being in a luxury retail store, about the way you’re taken care of and you’re made to feel like a VIP when you’re there,” he said. “And there’s just no way to do that online or on an iPhone.”
Other internationally based retailers with lower price points are expanding and opening more stores in the U.S., too, including Ireland-based Primark and Spain-based Mango.
For Printemps, the U.S. opportunity became clear, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic, as more Americans visited Paris and came to its stores, Bellaiche said. In terms of sales, Americans are the third-largest spenders for Printemps after the French and Chinese, he added. Yet, Americans are closing the gap, with sales to American customers tripling from 2019 and 2024, he said.
Even with its luxury focus, Laura Lendrum, CEO of Printemps America, said the store mixes in more approachable items for tourists or aspirational shoppers who may stop by for a cup of coffee or browse for a $50 gift.
Here’s a look inside the store:
