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NEW YORK -- Sure, there's plenty of talk that the economy is slowing, but that hasn't deterred three accessories firms from expanding their retail businesses.
Though they serve different clientele, Fred Leighton and Fragments have developed specialty jewelry businesses, and both see this year as prime time to extend their reach, even if it is just next door. Lana Marks, known for her colorful range of exotic skin handbags and leather goods, has taken the route of many European accessories firms and is developing her own stores rather than depend on specialty stores. Here's what the trio is up to:
Fragments' Investment
While the Wall Street area's residential community has been growing in recent years, there has been a dearth of places to shop, especially for the kind of hip jewelry found for the last seven years at SoHo-based Fragments.
With the opening of the company's second store -- an 800-square-foot shop at 53 Stone Street, a tiny strip nestled between South William and Pearl Streets and crossing Hanover Square in the Financial District -- there is now a place for all those young financial wizards to spend some of their capital gains.
Situated just a block from the Goldman Sachs headquarters, the new Fragments offers an assortment similar to that in the SoHo space: fine jewelry from designers including Mallary Marks, Studio Waterfall, Christopher Phelan, Hillary Beane, Gurhan and Nominations, offset by an accessories assortment such as handbags by Michele Vaughn, Paige Roberts, Johnny Farah and Nancy Bacich according to Candace Caswell, who oversees retail operations for the firm.
Caswell said...