Over the holidays, shoppers on the hunt for glittering Fabergé eggs and vintage jewelry at A La Vieille Russie—the art and antiques dealer that’s been on the corner of 59th Street and Fifth Avenue for nearly 60 years—may have been shocked to find that it had up and left. In fact, the shop moved just one block south, but seeing the corner space vacant still qualified as major news. With sweeping views of Central Park and neighbors like the Plaza and Bergdorf Goodman, it’s a location that most brands could only dream of. Who was the new tenant, when were they opening, and what would they change?
The answers: Delvaux, this weekend, and quite a lot—but New Yorkers who frequented A La Vieille Russie will be charmed to see that several elements were left intact. The original curving staircase is still there, for instance, but it’s been carpeted with red, black, and yellow stripes, a riff on the Belgian flag (Delvaux was founded in 1829—before Belgium was even a country, in fact). “Every New Yorker knows this space,” Jean-Marc Loubier, the CEO of First Heritage Brands (which owns Delvaux, as well as Sonia Rykiel and Robert Clergerie), tells Vogue. “It’s a very important corner in New York, and it’s full of history, from the building to the past tenant. We’re bringing a new story.”
