Hermès delivered a transparent message in regards to the viability of physical retail stores with the September opening of its long-awaited, massive recent Madison Avenue flagship.

After greater than eight years of planning, the French fashion house opened the doors to a seven-story, 45,000-square-foot monument to luxury at 706 Madison Avenue at 63rd Street. From the outdoor gardens and the cavalier on horseback on the roof to the expansive assortment that features every part from saddles and dog beds to leather goods, diamond watches, rolling suitcases and ready-to-wear and accessories for men and girls, the shop joins the Ginza in Tokyo as the biggest in the corporate’s 300-plus-unit fleet.

4 of the floors, or some 20,250 square feet, are dedicated to selling space and a fifth is devoted exclusively to repairs of Hermès products in addition to artisan studios. The 2 lower levels are offices and stockrooms.

“There is no such thing as a higher tribute to retail,” says Florian Craen, executive vice chairman of sales and distribution at Hermès International. “Not only does it offer room for all our métiers, however it also offers the chance for enchanted discoveries and a spot to smile.”

The shop encompasses three buildings, one a former bank inbuilt the Federalist style that dates to 1921 and two adjoining town houses that create an L-shape across the bank. It was designed by the Parisian architectural firm RDAI that was founded by Rena Dumas, the wife of the previous chief executive officer of Hermès, and replaces two smaller Hermès stores — one for menswear and the opposite for girls’s — which have now been closed.

One entrance is devoted to the lads’s store, which has seen the largest change, expanding from around 3,000 square feet to greater than 6,000 square feet over two floors.

“We’re really enthusiastic about bringing men’s and girls’s together again; they’ve been separate since 2010,” says Robert Chavez, president and CEO of Hermès USA. “That’s going to be a dynamic change for us. The opposite thing that’s recent for us are these multi-product displays so people get a sense for the extent of the offering that now we have.”

In the lads’s department, that features neckwear, shirts, accessories and fragrances along with apparel.

The opposite entrance offers a preview of among the highlights from each of the brand’s métiers, or departments, with scarves, jewelry, apparel, leather goods and sweetness products all being offered. The predominant floor also features fragrances and makeup stations.

Along with the products, the newly created repair department on the fifth floor is now the predominant repair site within the U.S., and there may be a concierge, VIP rooms in each department in addition to bars on each floor.

Throughout the shop are greater than 150 paintings and pieces of art, including a baby’s hansom cab from 1830s London on the predominant floor that pays tribute to each Hermès’ heritage in addition to Recent York City cabs.

Among the features of the previous bank constructing were retained, including a plaque on the rear of the predominant floor dedicated to the founders of the Bank of Recent York, including Alexander Hamilton; the unique staircase; the grillwork from the previous entry to the secure deposit box area, and an antique clock that continues to be on the wall set to 7:06.

“It’s a part of American history,” Craen says.

The back of the lads’s department also showcases among the brand’s creative offerings reminiscent of bicycles, roller skates, skateboards, boxing gloves, dog tents and other novelty items. A collection of saddles is on display here too.

“That’s where we got here from,” Craen says, adding that Hermès continues to supply equipment for the most effective riders on the earth.

The second floor is a “men’s universe,” Craen says, showcasing ready-to-wear and footwear together with watches, gloves, bags, fragrances and a made-to-measure salon where customers can create their very own suits, shirts, knitwear and other products.

Upon climbing the Portugese limestone staircase to the second floor adjoining to the lads’s store is the house area with its assortment of dishes, blankets and furniture.

The third floor is home to a big positive jewelry and watch department. “We’re capable of showcase positive jewelry like never before,” Craen says. There may be also a big women’s accessories area for gloves, belts, hats and other products in addition to the ready-to-wear. “No other Hermès store can present such a diversity of offering.”

The fourth floor is devoted to leather goods and has a large glass-fiber bas-relief wall designed from ink drawings by French artist Francois Houtin that feature American trees. A big skylight brings sun and lightweight to the ground. The piece de resistance is a Miranda Brooks-designed roof garden that will likely be used to host special events and will even be open to clients.

Throughout the shop are several seating areas where customers are invited to sit down and loosen up. “We like to see our customers spending time here,” Craen says. “The one reason for a store to exist today is to supply special moments that the digital world cannot offer.”

Craen says one among the first reasons for choosing this location was not only its size but additionally the “characteristic of the constructing itself,” with its many windows that allow the sunshine to flow in.

“It’s a really Recent York feeling that makes it feel more like an apartment.”

There are 32 stores within the U.S., Chavez says, which suggests there may be “enormous potential to grow.” Among the most up-to-date additions include the 7,600-square-foot Austin, Texas, store that shouldn’t be positioned in a luxury mall, but on South Congress Avenue, with its vigorous music and restaurant scene. “It’s a bit little bit of a renegade, however the response has been phenomenal.”

Other small stores are slated to open in Princeton’s Palmer Square, he said, in addition to Aspen, Colorado, and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Recent York.

Craen says that while retail could also be garnering essentially the most attention of late, Hermès stays initially a producing company. In consequence, it should proceed to explore additional products and categories.

“There’s a continuing flow of recent product coming up so there will likely be numerous extension of existing categories obviously in the longer term,” he says.