A Pop-up in Palm Beach for The Webster
The Webster has opened a pop-up boutique in the affluent, high society community of Palm Beach, Fla., for the winter months.
“We felt that this was the right time to test out the market as there has been such a transition and revival with many people relocating there for year-round living from states such as New York,” said Laure Hériard Dubreuil, founder and chief executive officer of The Webster.
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“Palm Beach has always been such an interesting location for us with it just being north of our South Beach and Bal Harbour boutiques,” which are in Miami, she added.
The CEO did not say whether the Palm Beach pop-up, which opened last week, could one day be the site of a permanent location for The Webster, though pop-ups, if successful at drawing business, often lead to longer term leases. The Webster has eight retail locations and one outlet.
The Webster Palm Beach is set in the Spanish Colonial Revival style Paramount Theater Building, constructed in 1926 by architect Joseph Urban. The site is not far from The Breakers beachfront resort and The Royal Poinciana open-air center. The theater no longer operates but the building houses a home decor and vintage shop and a nondenominational church. The owner plans to renovate the building and create a luxury retail and dining development.
Palm Beach is the luxury retailer’s first pop-up in the U.S., though others have been staged overseas at Le Bon Marché, The Ritz and Lane Crawford.
According to a statement from The Webster: “Preserving historic buildings is at the core of The Webster’s DNA,” including the brand’s Art Deco South Beach flagship, which was originally the site of a hotel, and the SoHo store in Manhattan, which retains the original cast iron structure.
The Webster’s Palm Beach pop-up, at 139 North County Road, is expected to stay open until April. The 1,800-square-foot boutique has The Webster’s signature pink coloring and Deco design details such as the neon exterior logo sign, glass shelving and travertine displays.
The Webster has been steadily but cautiously expanding its brick-and-mortar footprint since opening its first store 13 years ago at 1220 Collins Avenue in South Beach, Miami, in what was originally the Webster Hotel. The 20,000-square-foot Art Deco building was built in 1939 by architect Henry Hohauser.
In October, The Webster’s first store outside the U.S. opened in Toronto, bringing the total number of stores to eight. The other stores are located in Bal Harbour, Fla.; Houston; Costa Mesa, Los Angeles and Montecito, Calif., and South Beach. There is also an outlet at Sawgrass Mills in Florida.
The Webster carries ready-to-wear and accessories from designers and luxury brands for women, men and kids, and is known for its distinctive in-store merchandising featuring leading established and emerging luxury labels. Among the labels: Agolde, Alexandre Vauthier, Amiri, The Attico, Andrea Almeida, Agua by Agua Bendita, Bottega Veneta, Burberry, Celine, Courrèges, Givenchy, Gigi Burris, Nodaleto, Nahmias, Palm Angels, Rosario, Rhude, Re/Done, and Roberta Einer. LHD, the retailer’s private label line, is designed by Dubreuil. Home and beauty products are also sold.
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