Openings and Closings: New Florent restaurant in the works, Giovanni Ristorante closes

From left: Cappuccino on the Bay, Crunch Gym

Florent Morellet has confirmed that he is looking for a new location in Manhattan to open a restaurant after his famed Florent closed. F.P. Journe, the Swiss watchmaker, will be opening its first New York location at the 800-square foot former Graff jewelry store at 721 Madison Avenue between 63rd and 64th streets. H&M will open its 10th New York City location on the Upper East Side at East 86th Street and Lexington Avenue on May 28 with free giveaways throughout the day. Celebrity hairstylist Ric Pipino has recently opened a new salon in Centre Market between Broome and Grand streets in Nolita. Larry Poston, of the Waverly Inn and Pastis, and Johnny Swet, of Balthazar and Freeman’s, have recently purchased the 9th Street location that once housed Marylou’s. They plan to use the location’s original name, Hotel Griffou, for their new establishment.

Gold’s Gym on John Street in the Financial District has become a Crunch gym. Two Yohji Yamamoto product lines, Y’s Mandarina and Coming Soon, will be sold at a pop-up store on 98 Greene Street in Soho for three months starting today. Aldea, Chef George Mendes’s restaurant, will open early next week at 31 West 17th Street. In Brooklyn, Brooklyn Boulders, a rock-climbing facility, will open its first location at the old Daily News garage on Third Avenue in Boerum Hill. Cappuccino on the Bay will be moving from its location at 3031 Emmons Avenue in Sheepshead Bay to the Bay Manor Condominium building at the corner of East 17th Street and Avenue Z. Amid these openings and relocations, the Régate Bistro abandoned its location at 198 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side for unknown reasons. Giovanni Ristorante, located on 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, has closed after 15 years. TRD