London - Audrey Hepburn had breakfast on its sidewalk, gazing through Tiffany’s window on a bright Manhattan morning.
Sir Philip Green and supermodel Cara Delevingne cut the ribbon for the latest US Topshop store there.
Now New York’s famous thoroughfare has been crowned the most expensive shopping street in the world.
Not only has Fifth Avenue retained the title, but the gap between it and second placed rival Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay has widened.
The league table is compiled annually by property consultants Cushman & Wakefield. Its retail experts across the globe keep track of every lease agreed and deal signed in more than 500 of the world’s glitziest shopping streets.
Shop rents on Fifth Avenue have jumped 3.6pc to more than £2 300-per-square-foot (about R50 000) per year.
In contrast rents in Causeway Bay have fallen 13.9pc.
In recent years as China’s economy boomed, Hong Kong has been home to the fastest rental growth. Luxury brands opened ever larger stores there to tempt the thousands of Chinese visitors that shopped there every week.
But the boom has ground to an abrupt halt. The Chinese economic miracle has slowed. Footfall – the number of people walking through the doors and along the pavements – has been down more than 20pc. Add to this a government crackdown on bribery, meaning fewer corporate gifts being bought, and retailers have been closing shops or asking landlords for rent reductions.
British luxury brand Burberry said last week it had agreed to reduce the size of its flagship store in Pacific Place in Hong Kong.
French luxury label Louis Vuitton has closed three stores in China leaving it with about 50 locations. Experts predict it could close more than ten next year to cope with the slowdown in demand.
Rents in other areas in Hong Kong also fell during the year with Central, Tsim Sha Tsui and Mongkok all down by around 12pc.
Those Chinese shoppers still willing to spend are travelling abroad to Europe, taking advantage of the cheaper euro, and to Japan where rents in Tokyo’s Ginza were up 3.2pc.
Although China’s growth may be subdued, there are plenty of areas across Asia that are booming. As well as Europe and Japan, Chinese tourists have also been flocking to South Korea.
The main shopping area in Seoul has expanded from the traditional Myeongdong retail area to include Garosu-gil and Hongdae where the design focused Hongik University is situated.
Bonifacio High Street in the Philippines capital of Manila has been one of the fastest growing areas with rents up by 24pc over the year. Rather than luxury, it is more mass market brands that have opened here with names including Swedish clothing retailer H&M and British toy shop Hamleys.
Back in Europe, rents were flat at just over £900-per-square-foot per year on France’s Avenue des Champs Elysees, though that may be affected if shoppers are deterred by last week’s atrocity in Paris.
In the UK, London’s New Bond Street retained the title of the nation’s most expensive street with rents up 12pc at nearly £870.
It is fourth in the global rankings, but some experts suggest that London’s streets would be even higher in the league table if the practice of “key money” was taken into consideration. In Central London, often a premium – known as key money – is paid by a tenant to secure the shop they want, on top of the annual rent.
This key money can run into millions in Bond Street or Mount Street in Mayfair.
In recent years large key money deals have included £10m paid by watch brand Patek Philippe and more than £5m paid by underwear brand La Perla for a small shop on Old Bond Street.
London remains in demand from overseas retailers due to its popularity as a tourist destination. It became the most visited city in the world, with 18.82m international visitors in 2015.C USHMAN & Wakefield reported that even regional cities have been performing well with year-on-year rental growth rates of 4pc for Manchester and Edinburgh, Sheffield at 5.3pc and Leeds at 2.3pc.
However, there is no disputing New York’s supremacy.
Fifth Avenue – particularly Upper Fifth between Central Park and the Rockefeller Center – is a tourist hotspot.
It has been a major thoroughfare since the mid-1800s. When it was widened more than a 100 years ago its status was sealed.
No amount of online shopping seems to dent the demand for a spot on a major high street and, for now, luxury brands’ fondness for large and expensive shop fronts is yet to be exhausted.
Daily Mail