NYC Boutiques Expand: Opening Ceremony & Odin

Not one but two major New York boutiques are expanding their repertoires this week. Opening Ceremony's new digs in Japan have debuted; the boutique already has outposts in both NYC and LA. Men's Style.com has a first look at the whopping eight-story wood-heavy shop Tokyo's Shibuya district. Like Opening Ceremony's LA abode, in Tokyo designers will essentially be allotted small shops within a shop: "the megastore will house shop-in-shops from Nom de Guerre, Band of Outsiders, D.A.P. Books, New York cult record shop Other Music, and more." Needless to say, the space is sure to be an international shopping destination and one that will confirm Opening Ceremony's rise to the ranks of mega retailer on par with Barneys, Bloomingdales, and the like.

Back in NYC, Odin, a fledgling retailer turned bona fide institution in its own right, is adding a slew of new projects to its resume, including a house fragrance. According to Women’s Wear Daily, “Owners Edward Chai and Paul Birardi are also undergoing a downtown real estate shuffle that involves absorbing Den, their rotating single-brand concept, into the Odin flagship on Lafayette Street, while Oliver Spencer moves from the West Village into the old Den space on East 11th Street, and a third Odin launches in the old Oliver Spencer space. (Chai and Birardi are investors in Oliver Spencer as well.)” In other words, it’s quite a logistical shake-up, but by no means a signal of Odin downsizing. In fact, the retailer is branching out beyond clothes: “the inaugural project for this group was the creation of Odin fragrances—three unisex scents, which will retail for $110 a bottle, starting in October.” Also in the works: a collaboration with Duckie Brown, the menswear label no stranger to either theatrics or sartorial humor. The partnership will be called Edward (both Duckie Brown and Odin’s founders thought the name sounded “refined") and will likely include well-tailored, yet whimsical men’s wear designs of which the former is known.