Yves Saint Laurent Hands Over Their Oak Street Lease

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Back on January, 23rd 2010, the Yves Saint Laurent store closed. For months the word was the store was to be completely renovated to be as the Houston flagship with deep red fixturing and rosy brassy elements which was originally piloted in YSL's Paris flagship. The complete renovation never took place.

Last fall we started asking YSL (repeatedly) what was happening. Unfortunately, they were always too busy "making house calls in the suburbs". For a short time last year, a for lease sign went in the windows but soon came down to be replaced with YSL livery. This whole time up until this week we were hearing rumors swirling throughout the shops on Oak and we finally confirmed our suspicion.

Escada was the front runner for the space almost the entire time the YSL was in limbo - and late last week a lease was signed. The transition is expected to happen soon.

For quite some time Plaza Escada on the South West corner of Michigan Avenue at Chestnut has been awkwardly set up and only occupies space on the Chestnut side of the building. Although all of the floors are occupied by Escada, not all the floors are shoppable to the public. Their new Oak Street lease will allow them to merchandise more thoughtfully with a new store design.
· Yves Saint Laurent [Official Site]
· Escada [Official Site]