Fifth Avenue’s next chapter: Inside the push to evolve the iconic shopping corridor
It’s a rare sunny winter Friday in Midtown Manhattan, and Fifth Avenue’s busy sidewalks are teeming with people. Eager tourists pile into Apple, Coach and Nike, their shopping bags swinging behind them. Office workers grab a bowl to go from Sweetgreen and Cava before rushing back to their desks at nearby buildings. And neon-lit pedicabs make their way uptown, blasting “Shake It Off” and “Empire State of Mind.”
In the world of global retail, Upper Fifth Avenue is a storied institution. It’s known for glitzy flagships, like Tiffany & Co and Armani, but it’s also an area that’s been well-trodden by local employees, sightseers and native New Yorkers. In the truest sense of the word, “Fifth Avenue really is the most attractive street in the world,” said Ed Pincar, president of The Fifth Avenue Association, gesturing to the bustling scene before him. “It attracts history and culture. It attracts fashion and retail. It attracts investment. It attracts profit — not only for our members, but also for the city of New York. It really is this place that captures everyone’s attention, every day.”
Pincar, a former New York City government official, makes it his job to walk up and down Fifth Avenue, he told Modern Retail on a recent tour. What is considered Upper Fifth Avenue, or the stretch of blocks in Midtown Manhattan from 49th to 60th Streets, is one of the most expensive shopping districts in the world, with rents topping $2,000 per square foot annually, per Cushman & Wakefield. Pincar’s organization covers the Business Improvement District that runs from 46th Street to 61st Street on Fifth Avenue, in addition to the stretch of 57th Street between Sixth Avenue and Madison Avenue. The BID represents more than 16 million square feet of commercial space, including retail, hotels and office buildings.
The Fifth Avenue Association is a not-for-profit organization that’s been active since 1907. It automatically serves any tenant or property owner within the BID boundaries. The organization has some 50 employees, who advise members, answer tourists’ questions and even shovel snow and empty trash. The Association talks to members “every day,” said Pincar, and acts as a “conduit” between brands and the local government on everything from scaffolding to permits for sidewalk cafés. Now, the Association is getting ready for Fifth Avenue’s next act as the region recovers from the lows of the pandemic, courts all types of tenants (not just luxury ones) and finalizes a total $402 million redesign that promises to increase pedestrian flow.
All in all, it’s a time of transformation for the 202-year-old avenue and the organization that tries to keep it moving. “We are always looking for opportunities to highlight the district and upgrade the experience,” Pincar said. “Given the amount of foot traffic, we want to make sure that pedestrians are not only safe, but also that … [the area] is welcoming and vibrant.” He added, “We’re excited for a really strong year in 2026.”
A region that’s ‘always on the radar’
For years, brands have flocked to Fifth Avenue to set up some of their biggest and boldest stores. Nike, for instance, picked Fifth Avenue to house its 68,000-square-foot House of Innovation in 2018, which it remodeled last year. “Fifth Avenue is essentially always on the radar, if you are a brand with aspirations of being global in nature,” Mike O’Neill, vice chair at Cushman & Wakefield, told Modern Retail.
The area has been through its fair share of change. Fifth Avenue’s Midtown section is heavily dependent on tourists, and it emptied out during Covid as visitors stayed away. But the city is now seeing tourist levels tick back up to 2019 levels, and Fifth Avenue is getting an influx of interest from retailers looking to expand. “From January 2023 to January 2024, alone, we saw billions of dollars in private investment [on Fifth Avenue],” Pincar said. “All told, we’re talking probably close to $4 billion in private investment [since 2022].”
In the last three years, Upper Fifth Avenue has welcomed new tenants like Citizen (605 Fifth Avenue) and Swarovski (680 Fifth Avenue). Abercrombie & Fitch relocated its flagship to an even bigger location on Fifth Avenue in 2023. Competition for space on Fifth Avenue is now so tight that luxury retailers have started buying out their landlords to have a more permanent presence in the neighborhood. Uniqlo (660 Fifth Avenue) and Prada (724 Fifth Avenue), for instance, recently snapped up their buildings for hundreds of millions of dollars.
Today, Fifth Avenue is buzzing with the sounds of construction. IKEA is preparing to open a store at 570 Fifth Avenue in 2028, while Moncler is opening a flagship at 767 Fifth Avenue in early 2026. Meanwhile, Rolex is nearing completion of its new U.S. flagship at 665 Fifth Avenue. Nearby, Rockefeller Center — which spans 22 acres in total — is reaping the rewards of a multimillion-dollar renovation started right before the pandemic.
“The recovery [of Upper Fifth Avenue] has seemingly sped up significantly over the course of the past 12-24 months,” O’Neill said. “If we were to have this conversation a year from now, we’d be seeing less availability than there is today, and probably not by an insignificant amount. … The primary challenge today is inventory.”
Programming on Fifth
Fifth Avenue isn’t without other challenges, though. Compared to other New York shopping districts like Soho and Madison Avenue, Upper Fifth Avenue has been slower to recover from the heyday of the pandemic, O’Neill said. He attributes this to Fifth Avenue’s high-value market, plus the fact that Fifth Avenue over-indexes with global tourists versus regional tourists or New York City locals. But the region is seeing progress, O’Neill said. “We’re very much in the midst of the recovery right now [for Fifth Avenue],” he explained.
Pincar, for his part, said he’s focused on ways to make the area safe and welcoming. Programming is a big focus. Since 2023, the Association has partnered with Nest on a scented-tree activation during the holidays. And starting in 2022, Fifth Avenue began closing to cars for one day in December as part of its Open Streets initiative.
New York City is also set to host viewing parties of the World Cup this summer in Central Park and Rockefeller Center. “We expect to see over 1.2 million new visitors to the area [because of the World Cup], and many of those are going to be walking on Fifth Avenue,” Pincar said.
The holidays are Fifth Avenue’s busiest period, but the Association is working to highlight its members’ offerings year-round — especially during the slower months of January and February. It sends out a newsletter to members about the latest experiences available to customers, like an omakase at Hoseki or a Lunar New Year celebration at The Peninsula. The Fifth Avenue Association also publishes several themed itineraries on its website, including “The Coffee Edit” (a tour of five cafés) and “Sips on Fifth” (a tour of five bars).
Curated programming like this lets people know that Fifth Avenue is open late and offers activities other than shopping, Pincar said. The Fifth Avenue Association also works with influencers to highlight tenants’ programming. In January, the Fifth Avenue Instagram page shared a video from a creator known as Martina (@theexcursiondoctor) about having afternoon tea at Aman New York on Fifth Avenue.
“The brands are always leading the effort on whatever their particular campaigns are at the moment, but we as the Association are trying to supplement their offerings,” Pincar said. As an example, he said, “We’ll go to some of the amazing cocktail bars in our hotels and stores and show what the latest cocktail of the month or the season may be. We really encourage people to enjoy those same offerings.”
The Association also highlights events in stores, such as Swarovski’s podcast tapings and speaker series. Swarovski’s past programming has featured Charli D’Amelio and Rachel Zegler. Swarovski’s Fifth Avenue store also hosted Venus Williams for an interview about her book “Strive” in 2024.
The future Fifth Avenue
More change is afoot on Fifth Avenue in the years to come. The area is gearing up for a revitalization project announced under the former mayor, Eric Adams, to transform the avenue into “a world-class, pedestrian-centered boulevard.” The total $402 million redesign involves widening sidewalks, planting trees and replacing stormwater infrastructure. The project would cover the stretch of Fifth Avenue from Bryant Park (42nd Street) to Central Park (59th Street) and kick off in 2028.
The reimagined Fifth Avenue will have two fewer car lanes, but still retain space for buses. “It will absolutely make Fifth Avenue’s pedestrian experience grander,” said Pincar. “Just for context, during the holiday season, on a Saturday, during one hour, on one block, we see 23,000 pedestrians. That’s more than Madison Square Garden.”
Elements of the plan are “certainly being well-received by retailers,” said Cushman & Wakefield’s O’Neill. “There is going to be some level of disruption associated with it,” he said. “But, by and large, the end project is something that most brands we’ve communicated with are supportive of.” When retailers come to Fifth Avenue, they are thinking long term, he said, and the revitalization plan could create value in the long run.
Pincar sees it that way, too, when it comes to the success of the Association’s members. “Certainly, there are examples from around the world of other cities taking a look at their most important streets — their busiest shopping streets — and trying to [create] more space and improve the experience,” he said. “That’s exactly what we’ll do on Fifth Avenue.”