I noticed this in the dressing room while shopping Gap Herald Square over the holidays:
I tested it today, as the Days-of-the-Week Cat Underwear, pictured below, were not available online in my daughter's size, but are in-store at Gap Herald Square.
When I was little, my older sister had days-of-the-week underwear and I thought they were the coolest thing ever. So naturally I must live vicariously through my girl and get her the cat version (I'm just disappointed there isn't a black-and-white Kitler). If all goes well, I should be picking these up tomorrow in Herald Square.
This harmonious meeting of online retail and brick-and-mortar retail is truly appealing to shoppers like me: I'll always shop at stores, but I spend a lot of time browsing online, too. I'll do more of both if I can skip shipping costs and reserve sizes and styles online for store pickup. For instance, I just bought several girl's sale items for another 35% off with their online only discount code (ends today), while reserving the underwear to pick up in-store tomorrow. Odds of me buying more than just the Days-of-the-Week underwear tomorrow at Gap Herald Square? Yeah, for Gap it's an on and offline win.
How beautiful is this Fossil-ized building?! So very beautiful. And they are having a 30% off select items sale, so get in that store and check it out, because Fossil does not have sales often. 38 West 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
Levi's
50% off already reduced items. Head straight to the back of the 34th Street boutique for great deals on denim, shirts, and sweaters. 45 West 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
Zara
The sale is almost store-wide: look for tables of sweaters and racks of skirts and shirts for $19.99. There aren't many winter hats left, but there is a beautiful black cashmere beanie for under $40. 39 West 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
That's $19.99 up there, NOT $9.99.
Mango
50% off everything except the new collection items in the front of the store. No worries, there is LOTS to choose from among the beautiful dresses and coats on sale. And for me, at Mango, it's all about the dresses and coats. 7 West 34th Street just west of Fifth Avenue
bebe
Those already reduced prices on the sale rack in the back? Take another 50% off for up to 70% off. Isn't math great? 1 West 34th Street at Fifth Avenue
Desigual
Another 50% off sale on select items! 34th Street is clearly 50% crazy. I got stuck in the kid's section obsessing over long-sleeved sequinned-heart tees (30% off, although there is a large amount of 50% off kid's items also). 358 Fifth Avenue on 34th Street
Express
Take an additional 40% off all redline prices. You thought I was going to say 50%, right?! Also, Express jeans are buy one get one for 50% off. 7 West 34th Street just west of Fifth Avenue WHO.A.U
Everything is 60% off! Regular FH readers know I'm obsessed with their winter plaid shirts and general high quality of merchandise. The skinny jeans are great too, but they truly are junior cuts, so be warned! No dressing room freaking out allowed. 22 West 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues Orva Shoes
Apparently, Orva Shoes is closing again on 34th Street. In the meantime, let's all just get some winter boots on sale. 34 West 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
If you, like me, are obsessed with Uniqlo's fleece loungewear dresses, wait until you see their Fluffy Yarn collection. I spotted these today at the 34th Street store, second floor.
Leggings, shorts, socks...can you see the softness of the fluffy yearn, I mean yarn, in the photo above? Let's check out the close-up.
Amazing. Read a review here. Yes, these will keep your rear warm for the next Polar Vortex. I also like this quote: "Perfect for layering with a loungewear dress." It's like someone at Uniqlo is living in my brain.
Uniqlo
31 West 34th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
There is total harmony in the Mesh Shoe Cosmos when Kate Spade uses mesh like this:
Honestly I'm not sure what to call this: ankle strap shoe or mesh bootie? But who cares, just go to DSW on 34th Street and get this on your foot as soon as possible.
But before we leave...
The bag selection at the 34th Street DSW is mighty tempting.
DSW
213 West 34th Street, just west of Seventh Avenue
We were lucky to have this Seventh Avenue AEO outpost when renovations closed the 40 West 34th Street AEO store last year, and will miss its fabulous denim and button-down presence on the West End. No news on who will be replacing AEO at this location (or if they'll be returning?), but we will update here once we get the official word.
Reminder: before the AEO pop-up, this was Footaction's location. Footaction has since moved around the corner to 225 West 34th Street.
Photo from sunnier days in March 2013
The retail times are always a-changing on 34th Street. Never a dull moment.
American Eagle Outfitters Pop-Up
Now closed at One Penn Plaza (34th Street and Seventh Avenue) Footaction
225 West 34th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues
Victoria's Secret
It's back: the Semi-Annual Sale hit stores yesterday, and the Herald Square location will have all the Victoria's Secret a girl can ask for. Visit soon for the best selection! 1328 Broadway at 34th Street
Runner up:
Old Navy
In-stores only, ends 1/04: Take an extra 20% off women's clearance, for a total savings of up to 80% off. Also, Old Navy Active is up to 40% off all styles for the entire family. 150 West 34th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue
Let's start the new year with a history post on a vaudeville venue that predated Macy's Herald Square's flagship location. Written and researched by 34th Street Partnership's archivist Anne Kumer, this post also appears on NYC Circa.
Throughout the late 1800s Manhattan's Theater district crept northward towards along the city's Great White Way towards Times Square. Herald Square was home to several music and dance halls including Koster and Bial's. The theater's former location was a bit south at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 23rd Street. Two days after closing the 23rd Street location, John Koster and Albert Bial opened a new music hall with the same name on 34th Street between Seventh Avenue and Broadway. On August 28, 1893 the hall opened its doors to the public, eight years before Macy's would buy the property, demolish the building, and build their famous flagship store.
Exterior of Koster and Bial's on the north side of West 34th Street between Seventh Avenue and Broadway, 1896. Image: MCNY
Interior of the 34th Street Koster and Bial's Music Hall, 1896. Image: MCNY
A popular vaudeville venue with varied stage performances, Koster and Bial's hosted burlesque and acrobatic acts, as well as a whole host of musical performances.
Trick horse of Emile outside the music hall's 34th Street entrance, 1896. Image: MCNY
Among the many dancers who made regular appearances at the venue, was "La Carmencita," also known as "The Pearl of Seville." Carmen Dauset was born in Seville, Spain in 1868, and began performing at the age of 12 in 1880. She made her American debut at the 23rd Street Koster and Bial's in February 1890, but performed several times at the 34th Street location.
The dancer as portrayed by painter William Merritt Chase, 1888. Image via
One of a few portraits painted of the dancer by painter John Singer Sargent, 1890. Image via
The theater was also the chosen location for the first exhibition of Thomas Edison's Vitascope projector on April 23, 1896. Originally invented by C. Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armant, and called a Phantoscope in 1895, the two inventors both claimed the invention as theirs after dissolving their partnership. It was soon sold to Thomas Edison, in what sounds like a similar situation to the Emile Berliner gramophone incident in the late 1870s. The Edison Manufacturing Company renamed the machine the Thomas Edison Vitascope, and continued manufacturing it.
The first theatrical exhibition of a a film projection machine, the Vitascope. April 23, 1896 Image: LOC
Edison's company went on to produce 100s of "actuality" films -- watch them -- documenting real life scenes with little or no narrative. Here is a film of Carmencita made in 1894, most likely with one of Edison's previous camera inventions: the kinetograph or kinetoscope:
Almost since the day it opened, the theater was plagued with financial and management issues. On July 17, 1901 Macy's announced the purchase and future demolition of the property to make way for the flagship store at 34th Street and Broadway. Three days later, Koster and Bial's held their last performance on the rook garden, ending with a chorus of performers and loyal customers singing "Auld Lang Syne."
You can still find a plaque commemorating the Hall's existence just outside the 34th Street entrance to Macy's.
Other Sources:
-Snyder, Robert. The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York.
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