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We fondly remember the lavish opening party for Yohji Yamamoto's NYC flagship store on Gansevoort Street. It was back in early 2008, just before we personally began writing on Racked, and Yohji's party was a big wake-up call to the influence of New York retail. Hell, he covered the whole slice-shaped store in a specially-designed white cocoon and lit the streets with ginormous spherical lights sitting on the cobblestones. It turns out that fripperies such as this event may have led to the fall of the House of Yohji.
After reading our exclusive news about the closing of Yohji's two NYC stores in response to his company's bankruptcy filing, several readers stepped up with tips and helpful information on the fate of Yamamoto, and it's not pretty...
Apparently the stores held a flash 90% off sale on Tuesday, before they closed (for good) a little early and we wandered by. Just our luck to not catch that; we know they probably wanted to go out quietly, but had they told us about that sale...oh man (and of course we would have clued you in as well).
Additionally, the closure wasn't an overnight decision. A reader tipped us off that towards the end of 2009, the people behind the Yohji Yamamoto brand were already planning to close the stores just after the New Year. But the devastation reaches beyond New York to include the closure of Yohji's stores in Antwerp, Belgium and the major new flagship on Rue Cambon in Paris. It is thought that the small YY store on Paris' Rue Etienne Marcel will stay open and Tokyo definitely will, but the fate of London is unknown.
What's more is that?according to valued tipsters? the cost of building the fancy Gansevoort store and the Cambon flagship caused huge financial issues for Yamamoto. And here we find the bittersweet end: at least the stores leave beautiful corpses.
Enjoy our farewell photo gallery of the papered-up Gansevoort store above, snapped last night at sunset (oh, the symbolism). Now to pour one out on the curb...
· Breaking: Yohji Yamamoto's Two NYC Stores Abruptly Close [Racked]
· Everything is fine at Yohji Yamamoto (Not) [Racked]
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