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Is This Crazy New Lifestyle Store the Future of Urban Outfitters?

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Photos: Driely S. for Racked

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Back in March, Urban Outfitters tested the New York concept store waters with Space Ninety 8—their souped-up Williamsburg outpost, where shoppers can pick up a locally-designed macramé wall hanging with their BDG jeans.

But that didn't prepare us for the company's latest behemoth: Urban Outfitters Herald Square. If Space Ninety 8 was designed to extend customers' browsing time—come for the strappy Deena and Ozzy sandals, stay for bacon-wrapped matzoh balls at The Gorbals, go home with a Dusen Dusen sundress you didn't know you needed—Urban's new location was built for the customer who never wants to leave.

It would be totally easy to pull a From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E, Frankweiler in the 57,000 square foot flagship. You could sleep in one of the vintage tents that dot the camping section, grab a coffee and a sandwich at the in-shop Intelligentsia, touch up your makeup in the Sephora-sized beauty department, try out pink highlights at the adjacent Hairroin, and spend the rest of your day listening to vinyl picks from Amoeba Records while trying on See by Chloe heels in the massive shoe shop.


The First Floor: Women's, Beauty, Hairroin, Intelligentsia, Amoeba Records, Without Walls

You can enter the first floor of URBN Herald Square three ways: Through the front door, where you'll be greeted by treehouse-like wooden structures filled with women's Urban Renewal vintage, through Intelligentsia (the coffee chain's second New York City outpost), or through Hairroin, the in-store salon.

The level is divided into shop-in-shops. There's a photography section (complete with a booth for printing Instagram snapshots), a Bikestock bike repair station, shelves stocked with Tortoise and Blonde eyewear, and cases of vinyl hand-picked by Amoeba Records.

Urban Outfitters' Without Walls activewear takes up prime first floor real estate. Expect to see digitally-printed yoga pants, Columbia Japan anoraks, and outdoor gear for the camper who isn't into roughing it (think hand-cranked blenders for morning smoothies).

Herald Square also boasts URBN's largest-ever beauty department, which is filled with hard-to-find Korean brands, as well as customer favorites, like Stila.


↑ The Second Floor: Shoes, Intimates, Home Goods, More Women's

While the first floor is where you'll find Urban Outfitters' splashier womenswear, the second floor is home to the brand's basics, like BDG denim, distressed tees, and lacy bralettes.

The Herald Square store's shoe department is enormous—over 3,000 square feet—and filled with labels you won't see in most UO outposts. (We spotted See by Chloe, Modern Vice, and Rachel Comey.)

Home goods are also on floor two, and the buyers went a little nuts with kilim rugs, Midcentury modern couches and geode votives. It's worth checking out the gift tables scattered throughout the second level, too—we spotted crafty friendship bracelets and cute leather pouches by Falconwright.

↑ The Basement Floor: Men's, Three Potato Four

Dudes will find URBN's stable of menswear on the basement floor. Special attention is given to Herschel Supply Co. backpacks, which get their own wall display, as well as Converse shoes, which you can customize in-store.

Pennsylvania-based shop Three Potato Four has also set up camp downstairs, with a collection of pared-down NYC souvenirs, like canvas tote bags and bandanas.

We'd say the only way for URBN to make their shopping experience more all-encompassing would be to attach hotels to their stores, but it looks like they're already on it.

Urban Outfitters Herald Square

1333 Broadway, New York , NY 10001 Visit Website