Smythson opens Madison Avenue flagship

This week, Smythson expanded their New York footprint by opening a new flagship store on Madison Avenue.

The accessories and stationery brand, which is now 129 years old, moved its flagship, which was previously at 4 West 57th Street, to a storefront at 667 Madison Avenue, directly across from luxury department store Barneys New York. The store marks the first move under new chief executive officer Mark Daley to expand Smythson's U.S. presence.

Samantha Cameron, the former creative director of Smythson, teamed with architect Tom Bartlett to create the retail concept for Smythson's Bond Street flagship, which was implemented for the new Madison Avenue store.

“It’s very exciting, we have been wanting to find the right store on Madison Avenue for a long time and I feel that we definitely have — so it’s an exciting moment for us. We have definitely got a huge international appeal, it’s great,” Cameron said of the store’s opening to WWD.

The brand's full range of accessories for men and women, as well as their stationery and diaries are on display at the store. As part of the opening, Smythson has mounted an in-store exhibition dedicated to their history. Titled "The Curious World of Smythson," the exhibit includes a display of archival mementos that once belonged to public figures like Princess Diana, Sigmund Freud, and Katharine Hepburn.

The new store, which is a total of 1700 square feet, is 35 percent larger than the brand's old store. It will also have longer hours of operation going off a seven-day-a-week schedule, versus the previous stores six.

Smythson also has plans for further expansion at Westfield's Oculus Mall in downtown Manhattan. Sales for the brand in the U.S. are consistent with what they are globally, with leather goods and accessories making up 70 percent of their profits, and stationery making up the remaining 30 percent. The new store is expected to further capitalize on the previous business they were doing at the old store.

In their efforts towards U.S. expansion, Smythson will also begin utilizing a local distribution center, and they have also added a team of dedicated U.S. market executives. In addition, they have updated the back end of their website, and they have begun using a new point-of-sale system that will help them gather more customer information.