ICSC: Online jewelry retailer BaubleBar to test market with pop-ups in Soho, across U.S.

BaubleBar's Daniella Yacobovsky, 131 Greene Street in Soho
BaubleBar's Daniella Yacobovsky, 131 Greene Street in Soho

BaubleBar, an Internet jewelry retailer, plans to use short-term pop-up stores in cities around the country, including in their New York City base, as a way to test further expansion into bricks and mortar, company co-founder Daniella Yacobovsky said during a panel yesterday on the first day of the International Council of Shopping Centers’ global retail real estate convention RECon in Las Vegas.

Yacobovsky, speaking on a Special Industry Group panel moderated by Faith Hope Consolo, chairman of retail sales and leasing at Douglas Elliman, said her company will be opening a pop-up store June 4 at 131 Greene Street in Soho, replacing French designer Vanessa Bruno. This is their second pop-up in New York. The firm also has an appointment-only location on the sixth floor of 230 Fifth Avenue in NoMad.

“Now [the pop-ups] are in New York, but we plan to do [them] all over the country,” Yacobovsky said.

In addition, another panelist, George Sappenfield, senior vice president at Ann, Inc., which owns Ann Taylor, said the firm was shrinking the size of its stores nationally, including in New York City.

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In the past, the company “fell prey to the idea that if 4,000 square feet was good, 10,000 should be better,” he said.

But the firm is slated to open dozens of new stores nationally at the same time, he added.

After the panel, Sappenfield told The Real Deal that the apparel retailer was hunting for a new location for its Ann Taylor store at 4 Fulton Street that was closed following heavy damage from Hurricane Sandy. He expected the firm would sign for a new location in Lower Manhattan within six months.

RECon runs through Wednesday at the Las Vegas Convention Center.