This story was updated at 2:00 p.m. ET on Thursday, March 19.
LONDON — Alexander McQueen is set to exit its location at 27 Old Bond Street, which it has occupied since 2019, and move into a smaller unit on the same street amid a company restructuring.
The move is set to happen in the fall, according to industry sources. The new store will be run by the existing team. It will also have a fresh layout and interiors concept, and carry the complete McQueen assortment.
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The sources added that Van Cleef & Arpels, which is owned by Richemont, will take over the McQueen space which spans nearly 11,000 square feet, and has a vast, spiraling staircase connecting the three floors.
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The Alexander McQueen restructuring is moving at pace under Kering chief executive officer Luca de Meo.
Earlier this week Alexander McQueen confirmed it was moving ahead with 54 layoffs in Italy, which unions argued would have a damaging impact on the company.
Last October, McQueen launched a strategic review that it said could lead to the loss of 55 jobs, or 20 percent of the head office staff, in London. At the time, McQueen confirmed it had entered into a consultation process, a precursor to layoffs in the U.K., with the members of staff affected.
The retail changes should come as no surprise. In February, de Meo said that, to restructure McQueen, he had no choice but to cut deep and fast.
The brand had incurred heavy losses over the years by opening 135 stores worldwide, and allowing itself to become excessively reliant on sneaker sales, which at one point represented 80 percent of its revenues, he added.
De Meo said more than half of those stores could be shuttered “without mercy,” with some locations transferred to other brands within the group.
“What do you want me to do? I don’t run a charity,” he said. “We have to make [tough] decisions, but we obviously respect the history and the potential of the brand.”
The store at 27 Old Bond Street was ambitious from the get-go.
Formerly the DKNY flagship, the unit was four times bigger than Alexander McQueen’s former home across the street, at number 4-5, which it had occupied from 2013 to 2019.
The current space has soaring ceilings, honey tones, oak- and walnut-lined walls and floors, and spacious dressing rooms. Glass cylinders connect the three floors while an innovative cladding known as “cotton-crete,” a cotton-based papier-mâché, was developed exclusively for the space.
To mark the opening, the Chilean artist Marcela Correa created sculptures in alabaster, bronze, granite and wood, that were meant to guide visitors around the space. Former creative director Sarah Burton, who now holds a similar role at Givenchy, took charge of the concept herself, designing the store in collaboration with the architect Smiljan Radic.
One source said the store was loss-making from the day it opened in 2019.
Spokespeople for Kering and Richemont declined to comment.
Earlier this month, Alexander McQueen’s creative director Seán McGirr said he was embracing the changes at the company.
“I’m really just excited about the journey that we’re going to go on. Tailoring, eveningwear — it’s all these special categories, because McQueen is like a jewel in the crown,” the designer said.
Separately, the British jeweler Boodles is set to move into the former Stella McCartney space at 23 Old Bond Street. As reported, Stella McCartney shut her longtime flagship last year, as she reorganizes her independent company.
The movement on Old and New Bond Street has been brisk.
Earlier this week, Ferrari opened a lifestyle flagship on the corner of Piccadilly and Old Bond Street, while in June Hermès is set to open a large-scale unit in the former Asprey space, which it originally purchased in 2009, on New Bond Street.