Signage is up as the storied French luxury brand readies for its long promised fall opening in its singular new space.
Hermès’ Brooklyn flagship at 111 North 6th Street this morning. Photo by Susan De Vries
by Hermès is set to open any day now on the corner of North 6th and Berry Street in Williamsburg. Signage is up in the windows, and the storied French luxury brand recently advertised for a general manager ahead of its long-promised fall opening of the permanent Brooklyn flagship at 111 North 6th Street.
While there is no actual “Hermès” shop sign, at least not yet, even from a distance larger-than-life images of its signature orange boxes tied with brown and white cotton ribbons woven with the Hermès logo can be spied filling the windows like giant presents to unwrap.
The building itself is a bit of an architectural amuse-bouche, designed to look like a group of 19th century brick buildings with bricked-over windows and big new modern openings punched willy-nilly through the facade. But it’s all new, in what some might interpret as a trompe l’oeil homage to Williamsburg, where the old is constantly being altered, not always sympathetically, or outright replaced.
The brickwork detail is looking fine, and the rear of the building is clad in bronze bricks and matching bronze-finished columns. What appears to be a neighboring row house on North 6th is also part of the new shop. The building’s tongue-in-cheek design generated chatter on social media when it emerged from scaffolding in 2024.
The corner was previously home to Marine Layer, Gant and, notably, The Future Perfect, a home design store on much the same wavelength as the new Hermès building. (Now in Manhattan, it showcased creative Brooklyn design, including modern images and messages screen printed and layered over vintage china — not unlike the apparent superimposing of modern over old here.) Just down the block at 91 North 6th Street, an Hermès popup with limited inventory that opened in 2023 recently closed.
Hermès is perhaps the zenith of the latest cycle of retail in Williamsburg, where Chanel, Apple, Whole Foods, Muji, and other national and global retailers have replaced unique mom and pop and artist-run restaurants and boutiques.
There’s still no Gap though.
[Photos by Susan De Vries]
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