Holiday Shopping in NYC

One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is to stroll through Henri Bendel. There is just something about the white and brown stripes that is incredibly appealing, all the cute packaging, the colorful nick nacks, I love it all. Henri Bendel was a milliner who opened a store in Greenwich Village in 1895. He was the first to bring Coco Chanel to the United States from Paris and also launched many designers including Diane von Furstenberg. Bendel's supports upcoming designers through its "open sale", at which vendors can present merchandise to corporate buyers and get a chance to sell in the Fifth avenue store. I went to one of these and it was a lot of fun, I got to see some incredibly talented people.

These are perfect little gifts. Some are sweet some salty but all beautifully packaged.

In 2009 the store chose to stop carrying clothing (sad) and is now focused on fashion accessories, cosmetics and gift items.

My only, negative comment is that the sales people in the cosmetics area are very aggressive, bordering on Turkish Bazaar aggressive.

On the second floor you can find beautiful jewelry and bags, all reasonably priced. So many unique pieces, all things any wife would like (hint, hint).

Enjoy, Joanna

Henri Bendel

712 Fifth avenue (56th street)

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