Opening Ceremony is closing all its retail stores this year

Words by Lydia Crist

Closing Ceremony.

Retail giant Opening Ceremony has announced it will be closing the doors to all its retail stores throughout 2020.

The news comes just a day after the company was bought by New Guards Group. Co-founders of Opening Ceremony, Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, describe this decision as an opportunity to focus more intently on the brand’s in-house label.

The brand has four retail locations which are all set to close: Howard Street and a store within the Ace Hotel, both in New York, Omotesando in Tokyo, and La Cienega Boulevard in LA.

Opening Ceremony has attracted a lot of attention over the years for its collaborations with various brands such as Vans, Birkenstock, and Skechers. However, the new move will allow for the expansion of the in-house label and see a new product line likely released on FarFetch (NGG’s parent company).

While Opening Ceremony’s doors are closed for now, Leon and Lim assure us we will see new, reimagined OC stores with a fresh perspective in the future.

openingceremony.com

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This is why it’s incredibly emotional for us to announce today that we will be closing our Opening Ceremony retail locations sometime in 2020. We’ve made a decision to focus on growing Opening Ceremony collection and brand with our new partners, New Guards Group, and expand the designs of Opening Ceremony. Our brand takes the beautiful spirit of experimentation, fun and collaboration embodied in our stores and imbues this energy into the clothing we make. We know our decision may surprise you and it may be interpreted in many different ways. Ultimately, in this time of immense change in the way that people shop, we still believe in the power of passionate and unique retail. But we also believe in the necessity for change, reflection and an opportunity to refresh. This is a moment of transition for Opening Ceremony and, together with our new partners, we are taking the chance to step back and evaluate the future of our Opening Ceremony retail experience. We are stepping back from multi-brand retail, for a moment, so we can come back with an experience that is just as inspiring, filled with love and relevant for the years ahead as Opening Ceremony has been.

A post shared by Opening Ceremony (@openingceremony) on Jan 14, 2020 at 10:37am PST