The Antiques Trade Gazette is reporting that troubled coin and stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons Group, who retained the Mallett brand in the US having sold if off in the UK in 2018, is nevertheless moving this once vaunted name into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company had through its Mallett subsidiary retained the lease on its former shop premises on Madison Avenue following its closure, subletting to luxury fashion brand Stella McCartney.
Stella McCartney, however, stopped paying rent to Mallett in April of last year, and consequently, Mallett was unable to pay the underlying property owner. According to the ATG, the property owner was unwilling to extend payment terms on the rental arrears and consequently, Mallett had no choice but to file bankruptcy. The Chapter 11 filing, allowing for a reorganization will doubtless convert to the more final Chapter 7 involving a liquidation of all assets to satisfy creditors, the largest of which must be its New York landlord.
A sad and ultimately final end to a vaunted company that began in 1865 and was for over a century at the pinnacle of success within the trade. Moribund in England, its Bond Street leasehold has long since been taken over by Fendi, one of the many luxury brands owned by French conglomerate LVMH.
What I find interesting in the present chapter of the saga is somewhat less about Mallett than it is how so early on in the pandemic luxury fashion retailer Stella McCartney stopped paying rent on its Madison Avenue premises- little more, if one can recall recent events, than a month from the declaration of the COVID pandemic. One wonders whether this ostensibly well capitalized luxury brand was either brazenly opportunistic in taking financial advantage of a global catastrophe, or so thinly capitalized that an immediate drop off in business resulted in stopping payment of rent out of an immediate economic necessity. I suppose looking at it from the latter perspective, it is perversely democratizing when someone as elite as the daughter of Sir Paul McCartney shares something very much in common with the now-defunct shave ice vendor formerly around the corner from my home in Hawaii.
And then the question begs how fares the Fendi boutique on Bond Street, Mallett’s former flagship location. I’ve not heard specific rumblings, but then, the major landowners in the West End, which includes the Queen herself and the Duke of Westminster, are renowned for their deep pockets. But then, neither are they known for unending patience when it comes to money matters. As I’ve always maintained, no matter how wealthy you are, there always has to be a payday.
It is as they say an ill wind that doesn’t blow somebody some good, and while I can’t honestly say I’ve shed too many tears for the international luxury retailers who’ve in the last 20 years nearly obliterated the existence of independent shops in the better venues, it might be a sign of hope for those few who remain. It is certainly my especial hope that the retail trade in art and antiques, virtually swept away the result of rents that became ruinous, might find the economic tide turning in their favor. Several weeks ago, also reported in the ATG, longtime Jermyn Street dealer S Franses was able to prevail over the predations of his landlord, and promises to stay put for years to come. Hopefully this harkens better days by way of cheaper rents ahead for those of us who survive in a business, albeit a beleaguered one, we love.