Worst New(-ish) Retail Stretch of 2009

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With only a few days left in 2009, it's time to look back at a year of dizzying highs and crushing lows, a year when every empty storefront held a pop-up shop and every sidewalk a sample sale line. Folks, it's the annual (three years running!) Racked Recap. This week, we'll be reliving our biggest and brightest (and saddest and darkest) moments, from the best collabs to the worst pop-up shops. Take a deep breath of the sweet, sweet nostalgia.

At the risk of sounding redundant, we have to call "the Plaza Retail Collection" our worst new retail stretch of 2009 (we already named our favorite). Why is it the worst, when we've got mass closures along West Broadway in Soho, on Fifth Avenue, in Gramercy and everywhere elsewhere, you ask?

Because brands keep moving out of the horrendous basement maze at this hotel; and with the possible exception of the Eloise shop, there are just never many shoppers down there—at least when we've visited. Although the Plaza Retail Collection isn't exactly new, it still feels like it hasn't yet gotten off the ground...and because you've probably never been there, so it's new to you. Plus—the aforementioned Eloise shop is new, Douglas Hannant opened, and the long-anticipated Food Hall should be opening in 2010. Plaza Shops—better luck next year.
· All Racked 2009 Recaps [Racked]