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Kate Spade Saturday is opening a pair of shops in NYC: their first permanent store has arrived,in Soho and a travel-friendly pop-up shop inside JetBlue's hip Terminal 5 at JFK Airport will run from December 9th through the 20th. The Spring Street storefront is the brand's second U.S. store—there's one in Houston—joining an existing pop-up shop in the Meatpacking District. It's also the first location with a dedicated home department.
Kyle Andrew, senior vice president and brand director for Kate Spade Saturday, explained that the pop-up shops are used to generate awareness, and will remain open for the time being. "Something we learned from the Gansevoort Street pop-up is we like the cool vibe we have there," she told WWD. As such, the layout and interior design at the Spring Street store is much like that of the pop up on Gansevoort, down to the record player spinning music curated by Amoeba.
A heavy dose of mannequins and faceouts bring the products to life for the brand, which was strictly e-commerce before a shop in Japan and a series of pop ups. "One of the challenges online is romancing the product three-dimensionally." Despite the outfit inspiration, the store aims to embrace "a grab-and-go mentality and no hovering associates to help consumers put outfits together." This is brick and mortar for the girl who shops online.
Meanwhile, at JFK, the experience focuses on two t's: travel and tech. The pop up—rendered in signature sunny yellow—was inspired by the vision of their customer racing through the airport at holiday time with last-minute shopping on the brain. It features a "showroom" experience where customers can order through monitors with next day delivery, much like their touch screen pop ups of spring. While the instant gratification annoys some shoppers, in this case it makes a ton of sense: "[The customer] doesn't have to carry it on the plane."
Update: WWD previously misreported the dates of the JFK pop-up shop; the correct dates have been reflected above.
· Kate Spade Saturday Opens in SoHo [WWD]
· Kate Spade Saturday's Soho Store Will Lack 'Hovering Associates' [Racked NY]
· This Is How Kate Spade Saturday Does U.S. Brick and Mortar [Racked NY]