Commercial Real Estate & Advisory
Commercial Real Estate & Advisory
A sleeping giant is awakening and seeking to open more stores.
Victorinox Swiss Army is on the march and has hired Sinvin Real Estate to be its scouts for more locations. Currently, the SoHo store at 136 Prince St. is its only retail location in North America, and now the 125-year old company has decided to expand here with many more shops.
According to MICHAEL GLANZBERG of Sinvin, the lease in SoHo is up in June 2011. The company is seeking two to three more locations in “premiere” Manhattan retail corridors of around 2,500 square-feet with a flagship of double that size. Glanzberg said they are also exploring combining showroom and offices while they pursue options from Boston to Washington, DC. They are also working on mall locations in Westchester and Long Island.
“Obviously we’re thrilled to have the assignment; it’s a rare event to witness the unleashing of a brand at retail that has this level of goodwill and iconic brand strength built up,” said Sinvin’s Glanzberg.
The brand has a flagship in Tokyo and recently added flagships in Geneva and London, where they sell Victorinox Swiss Army knives and timepieces, cutlery, fragrances and LED lighting products. They also sell Victorinox branded travel gear and apparel.
The company’s global retail president, Joachim Beer, was brought over to Victorinox about six months ago from Hugo Boss US, where he was the president. They also brought on board former director of retail at Swarovski, Patrick Hardy, about four months ago.
“These are big recruits for a big shift into retail,” Glanzberg added.