We have been trying to stay as upbeat as possible in our reporting on the comings and goings of stores, but to be honest, these days there just seem to be more goings than comings. The latest news comes from WWD, and it hurts to hear that one of the city's most innovative and influential retailers is retreating home. Linda Dresner will close her eponymous boutique on Park Avenue at the end of December. Her original Michigan store will remain open. Her lease is coming to an end, and, astonishingly, her landlord wanted to increase her rent in this economic climate. Reportedly, her rent is around the $500,000 mark for 34,000 square feet at 59th Street and Park Avenue.
Dresner was known for her minimalist boutique that influenced store design for the end of the 20th Century as well as a sharp eye for unknown desigers who would go on to become major players like John Galliano, Comme des Garons and most notably, Jil Sander. Her store was the last luxury women's boutique on a short stretch of Park Avenue that once included legendary shops like Martha and Sara Fredericks. Dresner represented a more modern, updated version of that salon style of retailing. She notes that it became much harder for her store to remain exclusive and special among the vast proliferation of designer stores in New York which will be less of a problem in her hometown of Bormingham, Michigan. "The audience that likes these clothes is large, but its not huge in Michigan," the retailer tells WWD, "We still have a strong signature. We can cope with the ups and downs easier in Michigan.
Dresner Checks Out: Park Ave. Retail Icon Succumbs to Economy (WWD)

While retail news may seem grim, things aren't at a total standstill these days. Our friends at RACKED tell us that burgeoning contemporary brand Vince has nabbed a highly desirable spot at the corner of Little West 12th and Washington Streets. This puts them only a door or two away from Tory Burch's upcoming shop and the Scoop colony. Things seem to have fallen into a particular pattern in the Meatpacking District as more actual meatpackers exit, leaving more available retail space. The highest end designers like Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney have taken the 14th Street corridor anchored by Jeffrey, while the contemporary labels have settled on Washington Street led by Scoop and Diane Von Furstenberg at the top corner.
All these contemporary labels form the backbone of Scoop's vendor list. As they fill up the area, we wonder whether there will be anything left there that doesn't have its own shop a few steps down the road? Perhaps its time for Scoop to start looking for some new labels.
Storecasting: Vince Claims Coveted MePa Corner (RACKED)

Let's just give Steve & Barry's a moment for trying, really trying to stay afloat.
The mass retailer just filed Chapter 11 ...again.
The home of Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten and Stephon Marbury's Starbury among other celebrity endorsed labels already went that route once this year and was purchased, albeit in a pared down form, by Bay Harbour Management and York Capital Management. Only a few days ago, the company named former Macy's Chairman Hal Kahn as CEO, which may have led to the filing. While in the process of closing underperforming locations and liquidating excess merchandise, the worsening retail environment has clearly made it unfeasible to continue operating the chain in any form. Presumably the company is now looking to liquidate entirely.
At this point, many seemed to be waiting for the chain to be put out of its misery already, but what remains to be discovered is the fate of the many celebrity brands it sold. If it is the stars, (also including athletes Venus Williams, Laird Hamilton, Bubba Watson and Ben Wallace as well as actress Amanda Bynes) who hold the trademarks to the labels, then it is possible that they might wind up at other retailers in the future. However, if Steve & Barry's owns the trademarks, they could be sold as part of the liquidation.
More information is sure to follow, but this story can be chalked up to a great idea meeting shaky management and poor market conditions.
Steve & Barry's Files for Bankruptcy(WWD)

It's almost Thanksgiving, and that means that in Retail Time it's well into Christmas season. This year, in efforts to pump up increasingly anemic sales, stores are anxious to start the holiday period as soon as possible, so walking around midtown, it looks more like mid-December, with the extra-cold weather adding extra atmospheric effect.
Our friends at RACKED have been following the progress of Barneys New York's famous windows, which are planned and designed months in advance. Knowing how much work goes into their execution, it's difficult to criticize them, but here we go anyway.
This season, the slogan is "Have a Hippie Holiday" as Barneys celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the peace sign. In a holdover from last year's "Green" theme, the retailer has commissioned its favorite designers to create outfits out of sustainable materials commemorating the symbol, some of which are surprisingly smart and appealing while others are...not.
Our question is, since when did Barneys become such a schoolmarm?
It's not that the windows are bad or inept. Far from it. They are still funky and clever, but for a company whose holiday displays became famous for being wickedly funny, irreverent and potentially inappropriate, the latest turn towards politically correct virtue is something of a letdown.
We are in full support sustainable materials and peace, but wasn't this year the perfect (and hopefully only) opportunity to do a merciless Sarah Palin window? The woman was comedy gold, and obviously a shopper. As always, there continues to be an endless supply of public figures in need of deflating, a job Barneys used to do with great skill and glee.
On the plus side, around the corner on 61^st street, Barneys has, as in recent seasons, devoted a window to paintings by students of the East Harlem School which are for sale to benefit the school. The bright, graphic children's artworks have more verve and energy than peace dresses by famous designers. You would have to be made of granite not to be charmed by them.
Perhaps Barneys will never be able to live up to the creativity of its holiday windows from the '80s and '90s, but windows full of merch, however exclusive it might be, will never replace the sneaky satire of years past.
We're all for virtue, but frankly, what customers could probably use right now is more funny.
Barneys New York Madison Avenue at 61^st Street, Midtown
More pictures after the jump

Just the other day we were wondering when that Miu Miu boutique would finally open on East 57^th Street. After all, the spot's previous tenant, Jil Sander, had already completed elaborate renovations on a new SoHo flagship that had been open for months, and yet Miu Miu's windows remained covered without even a teaser image to advertise the upcoming store.
It turns out that our doubts were premature, as Miu Miu uncovered its windows and opened its doors for business yesterday to a huge replacement for its former Madison Avenue location.
Actually, the basic 3-floor scheme that Jil Sander left behind remains relatively unchanged, though the once pristine walls are now covered and draped in Miu Miu's signature chartreuse brocade. The main floor is mostly devoted to accessories and sizable selection of shoes. More clothes are found upstairs on the second floor past handsome but stony salesmen stationed sentrylike at the landings, and up on the third floor you will find only a few more dresses and handbags as well as the feeling that this is an awful lot of space for a Miu Miu boutique.
This is the part where we remember that the space once housed both the full mens and womens apparel and accessory collections from Jil Sander, a brand that has several years of development on Miu Miu. In fact, there wouldn't be a Miu Miu boutique there at all if parent company Prada didn't need something to fill the former Sander store whose lease they retained after selling off the label. Faced with a glut of retail square footage, Prada's plan to elevate the status of Miu Miu from Prada Jr. to it's own fully fledged designer collection now looks a bit overambitious as the third level of the shop is partially closed off due to a sheer lack of merchandise. Frankly, even two floors looks like a bit of a stretch at the moment.
So, yeah, a huge three level Miu Miu flagship on East 57^th street a few steps from Chanel, Dior and Burberry is just a bit of overkill, and possibly represents some wishful thinking on Prada's part, especially given the current conditions. On the plus side, the extra work put into differentiating the look of the once secondary brand is evident, and there are some pretty spectacular shoes waiting to be tried on which are still priced a notch or two below Prada. This makes them practically a bargain in this neighborhood. Lets hope for Miu Miu's sake that they get to stay, and maybe those salesmen will crack a smile.
Miu Miu 11 East 57^th Street, between Fifth & Madison Avenues, Midtown