Watson Farley & Williams (“WFW”) advised Japanese lifestyle and beauty store Shibuyala in connection with the opening of its first New York City branch in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood.
Shibuyala is the premier Japanese lifestyle and beauty store in the US. Led by experienced retail and lifestyle product experts, Shibuyala curates more than 7,000 of the most popular, on-trend products from the top beauty manufacturers in Japan. Shibuyala NYC will be the company’s sixth US store, with other locations in Southern California, Houston, and Las Vegas. The retailer plans to open 50 stores around the world by 2022.
The soft opening of the retail store at 37 St. Marks Place took place on Friday, March 22. The WFW New York Real Estate team advising Shibuyala on this transaction was led by Counsel Hamid Soltani.
Hamid commented: “We are very pleased to have advised Shibuyala on their entrance into the New York retail market. This store is a great addition to the colorful strip of St. Marks and should add value in maintaining the great culture of the East Village.”
Kevin Huang, one of Shibuyala’s principals, added: “It was a pleasure to work with Hamid. At every stage, he provided us with timely and invaluable advice. We were pleased to be supported by the WFW team with their level of real estate expertise.”
Other recent prominent deals our New York Real Estate team has handled include, advising the RAL Development on its agreement with the City of New York to develop the new state-of-the-art Union Square Tech Hub and advising ThreeSixty Brands on the construction contract for FAO Schwarz’s flagship store.