The Top Ten Retail Spaces to Watch in 2012

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

With only a few days left in the year, it's time to look back on 2011 with the annual (five 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 most excruciating lines. Up next: Ten spaces to watch in 2012.

Let's take a break from all the nostalgia for a glimpse at the most exciting openings on the horizon. Soho's going to see a lot of excitement, although honestly, when is Soho not seeing a lot of excitement? The parade of new openings on Madison Avenue will continue. And two high-end shoe labels are planning to expand in the Meatpacking District.

Sadly, we couldn't include Proenza Schouler's first boutique on a list of spaces to watch because as of yet, they don't have a space. But we wouldn't be surprised if an address leaks sometime before next December rolls around.

10. Moscot Brooklyn
Moscot is a historic family-owned businesses that specializes in thick-framed glasses. Cobble Hill is a neighborhood filled with preservation-obsessed locavores known for their love of...thick-framed glasses. It's the best brownstone Brooklyn pairing since Gyllenhaal met Sarsgaard.

9. Hudson Yards
This west side mega-development won't open in 2012, but we're going to be hearing about it all year. The $15 billion project has already snagged Coach as a tenant, with gossip flying about interest from other upscale retail—including perhaps Nordstrom. Even Fashion Week might join the party, making this space fertile ground for 2012's best rumormongering.

8. Christian Louboutin men's
The king of red soles recently opened a shop dedicated entirely to men's footwear in Paris, and now he's planning to follow-up with a Meatpacking District location. The new store will sit around the corner from his women's boutique and possibly offer shoe-tattooing. Which means soon enough, MePa might be crawling with guys whose smoking slippers match their biceps.

7. Mega-Zara
When is the opening of yet another Zara big news? When it's the monster Zara flagship at 666 Fifth Avenue. The 32,000-square-foot space used to house the NBA store. It sits on the same block as Uniqlo's new flagship, making Fifth Avenue and 52nd Street into a fast-fashion powerhouse.

6. Nicholas Kirkwood
Isabella Blow's ex-roommate is bringing his abstract-but-sexy heels to the Meatpacking District. If we're lucky, the shop, at 807 Washington Street, will stock some of his collaborations with lines like Erdem and Rodarte.

5. Céline
It's been a while since Céline's skateboard-laden advertising first appeared at 71st and Madison. Construction workers told us they thought they'd be done by the holidays, but so far, no dice. This isn't the first time the French label has opened a space on Madison Avenue, by the way, but the new boutique will be a lot bigger than the one that closed.

4. Stella McCartney Soho
Stella is just one of several high-fashion labels to stake out a Soho spot for 2012. After years in the Meatpacking District, the boutique will relocate to Greene Street sometime this winter.

3. Balenciaga Soho
Balenciaga's W. 22nd Street space certainly seems healthy enough, but the lease is reportedly almost over, so the label will be shuffling down to Soho sometime in 2012. Their new location, 149 Mercer Street, used to house Korean restaurant Woo Lae Oak, and we hear they'll be paying $1 million a year in rent.

2. YSL Soho
As the brutal wait outside this year's sale demonstrated, New Yorkers love themselves some Yves Saint Laurent. But right now Manhattan only has one location, on 57th Street and Fifth Avenue. The new Mercer Street location should rectify this tragic shortage, though we're not sure when. YSL's website promises that the site is opening soon, but from the outside it still looks fairly raw.

1. Tiffany Soho
Surely nothing can ever take the place of the uptown Tiffany. After all, not every Manhattan jewelry store can say it was name-checked in one of the greatest movies of all time. But the downtown location really might be a game-changer, if only because it's going to make the tourists go wild. The new space will occupy both 97 Greene Street and 106 Wooster Street when it opens in September 2012.

· All Racked 2011 Recaps [Racked NY]