Rolex Opening Store in Chicago?

[tomchicago]

Next to Cartier, in the old Van Cleef & Arpels space, on Michigan Avenue, it says "Rolex Opening Spring 2011". Anyone have any more info?

[accutronman]

Here you go. It's actually a Tourneau store.


Rolex to open Michigan Avenue flagship

By: Eddie Baeb January 07, 2011
(Crain's) — Rolex, one of the world's best-known upscale watchmakers, is coming to Michigan Avenue.

A new flagship Rolex store is slated to open this spring at 636 N. Michigan Ave. in the 1,668-square-foot space recently vacated by luxury jeweler Van Cleef & Arpels.

The long-term lease illustrates the resiliency of Chicago's Magnificent Mile and how the shopping strip continues to attract luxury retailers even as big-box stores and discount-oriented shops have populated the street in recent years.

Available small-shop spaces like this one, between Erie and Ontario streets, remain rare. The space generated a lot of interest early last year when Van Cleef determined it wouldn't renew its lease, says Camille Julmy, vice-chairman of Chicago-based U.S. Equities Realty, which leased the space for the building's owner, the Woman's Athletic Club.

“You really get the world looking at spaces like this,” Mr. Julmy says. “It was the type of tenant that really fit the space and the ownership.”

The tenant for the space is actually New York-based Tourneau LLC, an upscale watch retailer that opened a Rolex boutique in 2009 in its flagship New York store at 510 Madison Ave. Tourneau, which sells Rolex watches for the Swiss company, has a store at nearby Water Tower Place that carries multiple brands, and that store will remain open.

“We are bringing a unique and innovative approach to Michigan's Avenue's retail scene,” Jim Seuss, Tourneau's CEO, says in a statement e-mailed to Crain's. "This one-of-a-kind freestanding boutique embodies the synergies of Tourneau's retail expertise with the iconic brand recognition of Rolex."

Tourneau focused on the 636 N. Michigan site after determining Michigan Avenue was its preferred destination rather than the Gold Coast or Oak Street, says John Vance, a vice-president with Stone Real Estate Corp. who represented Tourneau.

“Rolex is a Michigan Avenue player,” Mr. Vance says. “The brand is already extremely well known, it's a luxury item, and the store is going to be one of a kind.”

Terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but Mr. Vance says rents on Michigan Avenue haven't suffered from the recession that has decimated so many retail markets.

“The vacancy on Michigan Avenue is low and there's a lot of demand,” he says. “Rents are certainly holding on Michigan Avenue.”

Luxury retailers on the Boul Mich have seen their sales improving and turned in a solid holiday season, says John Chikow, CEO of the Greater North Michigan Avenue Assn.

Tourneau is owned by a group of investors that includes Los Angeles-based Leonard Green & Partners L.P., a private-equity firm that specializes in retail.

Van Cleef, which shut down its store over the weekend, is moving to a new Mag Mile outpost several blocks north. The French jeweler has leased a roughly 1,600-square-foot space at 935 N. Michigan Ave., adjacent to Chanel in the Drake Hotel. The store is to open later this year, Van Cleef says in a statement.

“We believe that our shift to this part of the avenue will allow us to better serve the most luxurious and dynamic part of this historic and elite shopping and residential area,” Brent Nestor, a Van Cleef senior vice-president, says in the statement.

Rolex's new store follows another Swiss watchmaker, Omega, which opened a Boul Mich store last year at 909 N. Michigan Ave.