Just weeks after The Shops at The Bravern had Karen Millen open its doors for business, LTJ Arthur has closed its Bellevue store at The Bravern that opened 8 months prior. The French retailer, LTJ Arthur was known for its designer label home wear for the entire family.
LTJ Arthur marks the first tenant to close at The Bravern since they opened in September 2009. According to a Seattle Times article, LTJ Arthur also closed one of their new stores in Scottsdale, Arizona. Even with this closing, The Shops at The Bravern is still running at a healthy occupancy rate of 86%.
Tags: The Bravern
300,000 square feet would make the store roughly twice the size of an average Costco, which seems a tad improbable. You might need to check that…
Yikes, thanks Brian! Update made. (300,000 sq ft is how big the whole Bravern is)
I will miss their kids stuff, it was always on sale too, which is always nice. I am not surprised though, their products were way over priced (when not on sale) and did not seem to be well organized. One of their sales associates told me that it had been very slow and she had a feeling their store would close, guess she was right.
I never saw anyone in the Arthur store and checking the window displays the merchandise looked old English nautical preppy-not a Seattle look even for Bellevue old monied families. I have never seen a customer in Wolford either..an outrageously expensive-with $400.00 TIGHTS- store. It could be the next fatality.
I knew this one was coming. That store was always dead, the Bravern is chronically dead traffic wise, you can almost hear crickets. I was in around the holidays and there was a VERY pushy French woman trying to convince me to spend $200 on 3 pairs of boxers. I’m surprised more hasn’t closed at the Bravern in this economy.
Agreed with Dina – the Bravern is a colossal retail failure. As a West Bellevue resident who watched it being built, I was excited to attend the opening – and then to my shock and awe, I learned it was an OUTDOOR shopping area. Better suited for Miami than the rainy Northwest. Everyday I go by it, I’m reminded of how very sophisticated investors can make such stupid mistakes, probably surrounded by teams of yes-men…if only someone had asked, “But will people really give up the comfort for shopping at Bellevue Square to walk in the RAIN?”
And scores of Microsoft employees walking around in jeans and t-shirts don’t particularly add to the concept I think they were trying to achieve.
Yeah the outdoor thing never made a lick of sense to me. Going to Bravern now is really a masochistic exercise. It’s cold and rainy and you shuffle between empty stores where you can’t afford anything. Maybe at the end you get a cupcake to make yourself feel better, but it’s coated with the bitter frosting of despair.
If Bravern toned themselves down a bit from hyper-luxury to mere luxury I think they would have a shot. There are alot of stores that Bell Square is lacking and I find myself having to drive to South Center more and more lately. There’s definitely an opening in the market, but it isn’t selling $400 tights to reserved pacific northwesterners.
Whenever I walk through the Bravern, I only see people in the restaurants, Cupcakes store, and Neiman Marcus. The other smaller stores are almost always empty.
The Bravern would benefit by diversifying their store collection and open stores such as Ralph Lauren, Club Monaco, Marc by Marc, and other stores that will bring more people in.
Really??? The Bravern is great! My wife and I drive there once a week to shop and dine mainly because it ISN’T Bellevue Square. NM is fantastic, Hermes is always fun and the food and service at Artisanal can’t be beat. As far as the open air shopping goes I guess some of us will never get it.
I could only afford to shop there during the sales season, but I am perfectly fine with Bravern being what it is…
To be frank luxury shops are not designed to be thronging all day like Bellevue Square. Uber-rich people like their quietness. =)
Had to agree though, the outdoor shopping concept became a terrifying wind tunnel during the winter months and it wasn’t so fun.