Louis Vuitton has launched its largest US space to date in NYC, featuring the American debut of its branded café, a designer chocolate boutique and a capsule collection inspired by the Big Apple. Olivia Palamountain reports

Louis Vuitton has opened a new store on New York's East 57th Street ahead of the brand's Fifth Avenue flagship renovation.

While only temporary, Louis Vuitton's holding outpost still delivers wow-factor, with five floors of "retail, culture and gastronomy" stacked up in an impressive Art Deco-inspired building.

Inside, it features dramatic installations including four 16-metre towers of Courrier Lozine trunks and an 18-metre wall of mirrored Keepall and Speedy bags.Designed with Oma architect Shohei Shigematsu, the space combines exposed concrete with rich textile carpets, and features artwork from collaborators including Richard Prince, Yayoi Kusama, Supreme, Takashi Murakami, and Stephen Sprouse.

A New York-themed capsule collection of bags has been created especially for the opening, featuring items including a taxi-yellow Neverfull Inside Out bag, a Speedy Soft bag with a yellow lining, and a Capucines bag panelled with city skyscrapers.The store is also home to Le Café Louis Vuitton (the first in the US), a 70-seat venue on the fourth floor that introduces a new "luxury snacking" concept, developed by French chefs Arnaud Donckele and Maxime Frédéric.

Local chefs Christophe Bellanca and Mary George helm the café, serving dishes such as monogram-embossed lobster ravioli, Damier tartlets and the signature LV burger and club sandwich. The café includes a library curated by Ian Luna, featuring 600-650 titles focusing on New York artists.The space also houses the first US location of Le Chocolat Maxime Frédéric, following successful openings in Paris, Singapore and Shanghai. The chocolates are handcrafted in Paris using ingredients including eggs from Frédéric's Normandy farm and specially grown hazelnuts from Montflanquin.

The store marks Louis Vuitton's continued connection to New York since 1898, when it first began selling products in the US, with its first independent store opening on 57th Street in 1980.Elsewhere, the brand has also been busy; in May 2023, Louis Vuitton unveiled its food-centric Louis Vuitton Lounge by Yannick Alléno above its Qatar Duty Free store at the Central Concourse of Hamad International airport in Doha. Rad Globetrender's full report here.

In October 2024, meanwhile, Louis Vuitton launched a new Heathrow T2 store complete with a café by celebrated French chef, Cyril Lignac.