Opening Ceremony closes all its stores

Another influential New York institution bites the dust. The iconic store and meeting place, Opening Ceremony, is closing all its stores.

Just one day after announcing their purchase by New Guards Group, Carol Lim and Humberto Leon’s project has announced that they will close their stores throughout 2020 including Los Angeles and Tokyo 🙁

Opening Ceremony was one of the first to transform the act of shopping into an experience, fostering a sense of discovery by including an eclectic selection of brands from all over (they were one of the first to stock Alexander Wang, Rodarte or Proenza Schouler).

As the stores say goodbye, the OC brand and collection will continue under their new owners – New Guards Group.

“”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”

With the stores closed, the new Opening Ceremony product will probably be distributed exclusively by NGG’s parent company Farfetch. However, this does not mean that Leon and Lim have completely ended retailing; in their more extensive email statement, the duo states that “we will re-create stores, but with a different mindset and perspective“.

We’ll be waiting for them.