NEW YORK — The Shops at Target set its sights high by choosing Kirna Zabête as the women’s boutique for its second flight of shops launching Sept. 9 at all 1,764 Target stores and target.com.
Kirna Zabête’s owners, Beth Buccini and Sarah Easley, will collaborate with Target to design a women’s ready-to-wear collection with roughly 100 items. Prices for apparel and accessories will range from $9.99 to $199.99.
The Shops at Target is the Minneapolis-based retailer’s ongoing program that aims to approximate the ambience of key stores from across the country selected by members of Target’s in-house design team. The program’s inaugural launch on Sunday featured five shops — The Candy Store from San Francisco; Aspen-based Cos Bar cosmetics shop; Polka Dog Bakery of Boston; Warren, Conn.-based home-products-emporium Privet House; and The Webster, a 20,000-square-foot luxury boutique in Miami that sells apparel, jewelry and accessories.
Related Galleries
RELATED STORY: Target Readies ‘Shops’ Kickoff >>
There will be four shops in the second wave — two home-related concepts, Kirna Zabête for women’s wear, and a men’s wear store, also based in New York, that hasn’t been revealed yet.
Buccini and Easley opened their 5,000-square-foot store on Greene Street in SoHo in 1999. In the beginning, the women championed lesser-known European designers such as Josephus Thimister, Saskia van Drimmelen and Anne-Sophie De Campos Resends. In recent years, they have introduced younger brands like 3.1 Phillip Lim and Alexander Wang into a mix that includes Balenciaga, Lanvin, Celine, Givenchy, Victoria Beckham and Vionnet.
“We have had them on our radar for some time,” said a Target spokesman, referring to Buccini and Easley. “How they edit their assortments coupled with their personalities and the environment of their shops made them a natural. We’re going to introduce Target guests to an incredible collection and elevate the role of the shop owner. Like Laure Heriard Dubreuil [chief executive officer of The Webster], they know fashion and they know what women like. What’s so fascinating working with shop owners is that they’re creating and curating the perfect assortment of goods for the woman walking into their shop. They took the same approach with the collection they did for Target. In many ways, it’s pushing the boundaries and introducing the Target consumer to a different side of style.”
Each collection is specific to its shop and the personality of the owners. “The Webster has a Miami vibe,” the spokesman said. “Kirna Zabête at Target will be more reflective of the city — the collection is urban chic.”
Target will be announcing the other three shops via ABullseyeView.com throughout the week of May 7.