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The department store that's known for being at Fifth and 58th is now turning its attention to the opposite corner. Amid New York City's department store scene shakeup — Saks Fifth Avenue readying its Financial District store, Barneys making progress in Chelsea, plus Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus gearing up for 2018 debuts — Bergdorf Goodman continues to maximize every inch of its iconic (but non-landmarked) space by unveiling its new "jewelry salons" on the corner of 57th Street over the weekend.
WWD is reporting that this is the first major upgrade to the jewelry department since 1999, separating designer jewelry (starting at $1,000) and fine jewelry (starting at $20,000). It's part of Bergdorf's ongoing "2020 Vision" that includes a revamped shoe area, new shops-in shop for high-end designers, the retailer's biggest expansion of selling space in nearly 40 years.
Senior vice president and women's fashion and store presentation director Linda Fargo told the paper that it was designed to be a more intimate buying experience, distinguishing jewelry from the rest of the busy first floor with a private salon and a separate entrance on 57th Street — and the timing to focus on what the department store previously just considered its "back door" couldn't be more serendipitous.
Amid the luxury development boom that nearly runs the length of 57th Street, retailers are gearing up for a new shopping district. This particular section of the thoroughfare just saw the debuts of Saint Laurent's biggest store in the world and Louis Vuitton's newly renovated flagship, for example. And if Bulgari's $16 million dollar rent — the most expensive for an NYC retailer — is any indication, that stretch of 57th Street is most definitely prime real estate right now.