Coach Debuts a New Store Design in Chicago

Stylish Chicago came, they shopped and they shopped. The Aug. 21 opening of Coach’s new retail format at 625 North Michigan Avenue brought out a pack of local personalities, bloggers and tastemakers. At the evening cocktail and shopping event (the evening benefited the Art Institute of Chicago), pieces from the new Legacy collection for men and women—timeless styles from the 71-year-old brand’s archives updated and reissued—were smartly displayed on white oak tables and in nickel vitrines. The newly-expanded shop boasts high ceilings, gleaming white walls, LED screens and 6,000-square-feet of space, separated into men’s and women’s areas. With its natural wood flooring and industrial furnishings The men’s section evokes the original Coach men’s shop in New York City’s Soho, while the women’s area features marble floors that contrast with the vermillion-painted and ticking fabric-covered walls. Co-hosts Toni Canada, Dustin O’Regan and Jessica Humphry Muinzer noshed on pear and smoked gouda quesadillas and smoked salmon on waffle potato chips, sipped  champagne, tried on the brand’s metallic tasseled loafers and envelope-style clutches—and left triumphantly with bags full of Coach’s latest styles.