Good news for all those who love modern design. A Terence Conran Shop is likely to open here sometime in the next few years.
Although the charming (and very British) Sir Terence Conran skirted the issue back in May when we chatted with him at his new Manhattan store, a spokeswoman for his company recently confirmed that “Chicago is one of the places we want to develop in the future.” She defined future as “five years or so” and confirmed that site scouts are out looking for possible locations.
For those who are unfamiliar, Conran founded and was the design genius behind the Habitat chain of stores, which opened in London in 1964, later spreading its bounty of good, affordable design products across four European countries. Products were higher-end than Ikea’s, more like Crate & Barrel’s, which is why Conran stayed out of Chicago when he brought his stores (under the name Conran’s and later Conran’s Habitat) to the U.S. in the 1970s. Sixteen hip stores spanned the U.S.
In 1989, Conran decided to retire. The bon vivant-author-gastronome kept a few of his restaurants but sold the rest of his conglomerate, which by then included other chain stores and counted some 150 retail shops worldwide and 33,000 employees. Under the new leadership, the U.S.-based Conran Stores Inc. floundered and eventually closed.
To no one’s surprise, Conran made a comeback. He bought back his original store in London; polished his retail concept with more upscale European products; introduced a number of his own designs to the mix; and has opened a stream of Conran shops since the early ’90s. There are now 12 stores in Europe, Japan and Australia and one in New York.
That Upper East Side store opened in December 1999 with great fanfare under Manhattan’s Queensboro Bridge in a gloriously restored space.
It also opened with lots of great design products that are nearly impossible to find in such large assembly-electronics by Philippe Starck; Emeco chairs (now restyled by the inimitable Starck); the Bellini chair (plastic and in pastel colors by Heller); funky chairs by Ron Arad; lots of other crisp, modern European furniture; cool European gadgets and gizmos; unusual children’s toys; Terence Conran-designed rugs, china, toiletries, etc.
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We could be in for a real treat.