Same stores, different streets: US’s priciest retail strips are attracting identical luxury brands

From the special retail issue: The marble walls of the Fifth Avenue flagship of Italian fashion designer Valentino are a fitting touch for the world’s most expensive retail neighborhood, located between 49th and 60th streets in Manhattan. A doorman welcomes customers inside the three-floor luxury store with its displays of Rockstud shoes and bags and a sculptural gray and white mosaic staircase. The trophy property’s owner, Thor Equities, recently went into contract to sell the building for $525 million to a thus-far undisclosed buyer. [more]