FAREWELL GRANDE DAME

If your a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that the month of December it is tradition for me to feature the spectacular things and sights I see in New York, for those who can't make it to the city. And this year is no exception...and they were as usual- spectacular. But the Mistress needed a fainting chaise this time dear readers, as it was a tad sad.

Henri Bendel — is shutting its doors after 123 years. And the Mistress is completely upset by the news since I first heard it. I haven't been this upset  of a store closing since John Wanamaker's lambchops. No trip for me is complete without a visit to Henri Bendel's, and I do consider myself a Bendel Girl!!! I could always find the perfect gift there, my ALL TIME favorite candles come from there, and their service and atmosphere is top notch,. They would even offer to send my parcels to my home if I didn't want to lug them around town. What dears. And the atmosphere was always so fun and chic, everything arranged just so. To me, Henri Bendel's was like Tiffany's to Holly Golightly ." Well, when I get it, the blues, the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Bendel's. Calms me down right away.If I could find a real life place to make me feel like Bendel's, then I'd buy some furniture and give the cat a name."

The decision to turn out the lights in January of Bendel’s swanky store at its landmark flagship at 714 Fifth Avenue — was announced in October by its parent company L Brands, which also owns Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works. L. Brands decided it need to revitalize these two companies, who are under performing and let go of Bendel's, which is actually doing quite well.

Since their closing they decided to do a tree of their iconic bags and boxes! After talking to a manager, and clearly upset, he asked me if I'd like a Bendel hat box as a memento. How swell was that!!! I will treasure it right along with my Wanamaker ornament and hat box and my Marshall Fields shopping bag collection.

Thank goodness for this waiter passing out champagne. He knew what mama needed.

Bendel, which opened its doors in New York’s Greenwich Village at the end of the 19th century, was founded by Henri Bendel, a women’s hat maker from Lafayette, Louisiana.  He moved to New York in 1895 and began catering to the city’s elite, making the stores’ brown-and-white striped shopping bags and hat boxes a coveted status symbol. Henri Bendel's sold men's items, women's clothing, cosmetics and handbags. He is also known for bringing a little designer to the United States by the name of Coco Chanel, the first to have in house fashion shows and personal shopping, and was also the first store to have the concept of having individual "boutiques" within a store, not to mention invented the semi-annual sale.  In the 1960s, its in-house illustrator was a young artist named Andy Warhol. 

Rene Jules Lalique was a renowned French glass designer in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He is best known for his jewelry and decorative arts which were designed primarily in the Art Nouveau style, and one of his architectural pieces can be found right on the façade of Henri Bendel.714 Fifth Avenue was constructed in 1908 and converted in 1910 by Francois Coty into an emporium for his perfume. In 1912, Coty commissioned Lalique to replace part of the façade with an elegant three story work of art. Lalique designed a set of windows depicting interlocking vines and flowers. Once Coty was gone and Henri Bendels moved in, the windows were restored and are they ever beautiful. I have not yet heard what will become of the building, but I do know it's been declared a landmark thankfully.

And dear Mistress Maddie's #1 Fan even met me to take me to brunch at a hot new place called Pharmacy, knowing I'd be on the nerve of a breakdown, and try to talk me out of taking a swan dive from the fourth floor to go out with a bang like Bendel's. I can be quite dramatic huh?

I'll admit, the lure of walnut pancakes did harken.

But jokes aside, this is one store I will truly miss. Where are all the top notch stores with good service going? But  I bid a lovely good night to Herni Bendel's and thank you for some great shopping memories and feel good times.