Eurofashions, cosmetics for Broadway corner

For more than a year, people passing by the corner of York and Broadway have been wondering what is going to fill the prominent storefront there. The anticipation was encouraged by the #1Broadway hashtag painted on the boarded windows—an effort by Yale’s retail real-estate arm, University Properties, to promote speculation in social media.

But it’s safe to say that no one outside of a rarified retail world could have predicted today’s announcement: the space that most recently housed the quick-service café Au Bon Pain will be filled this fall by Emporium DNA, a clothing and accessories store, and Kiko Milano, a European cosmetics chain. Kiko Milano will have a shop facing Broadway, and Emporium DNA will occupy the corner location.

But if few people have heard of the new stores, that’s a plus as far as University Properties is concerned. Although the portfolio of Broadway stores includes Barnes & Noble, an Apple Store, J. Crew, and Urban Outfitters, Yale says it “also pursues companies that are not found in every shopping center throughout the country” in order to “create a unique retail environment.”

The two stores—which a University Properties press release suggests will bring a “European vibe” to New Haven shopping—are just beginning to enter the American market. Kiko Milano has more than 500 stores in Europe but only two in the US, both in New Jersey shopping malls. Emporium DNA, which features lots of European fashion brands (mostly for women, but it includes a men’s shop), has stores in Washington, DC, Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Chicago.

The One Broadway location has been vacant since last May, when Au Bon Pain closed after the university declined to renew its lease. The art-deco building, which had housed a drug store and several restaurant/bars in recent decades, was completely renovated and given a new faux-brick façade last fall. University Properties said its customer surveys “indicated a desire to have a cosmetics company and additional modern, trendy brands in the Broadway shopping area.”

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The Yale Alumni Magazine is published by Yale Alumni Publications Inc., an alumni-based nonprofit that is not run by Yale University. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views of the university administration.