Yet Another High-End Brand Is Leaving Fifth Avenue for Madison Avenue

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Fifth Avenue: So 2015? Though it was previously just a rumor, De Beers Diamond Jewelers has now confirmed to WWD that it'll leave its home of ten years on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 55th Street and relocate to 716 Madison Avenue, with a projected opening in November.

Does that address sound familiar? That's where Jimmy Choo is — for now, anyway. That brand is relocating a few blocks south to 699 Madison Avenue as early as April. And while De Beers updates this space into what was described to the paper as a "warm, luminous, feminine and elegant," two-story flagship, it'll open a temporary shop at 777 Madison Avenue on February 1st.

"Fifth Avenue has considerably changed over the last ten years, and it was the right time for us to find a new home for our precious brand," CEO François Delage said of the move.

He's certainly onto something: Though the world's most expensive shopping area has seen high-end tenants like Valentino enter in recent years, it's probably better known these days for its exits, including Bottega Veneta and Fendi. And to where have both of those brands relocated? Madison Avenue. (And they're not alone, either).

The tenants that are taking these spaces on Fifth Avenue are of a much different class — take Microsoft in Fendi's space, for example. And the more commercial stores that are further down the avenue are slowly starting to creep up, like Victoria's Secret. It's worth keeping a close eye on how this street changes as more and more brands reconsider their addresses as leases expire.