(Bloomberg) -- It’s a classic Hallmark beginning. Max is manages the new Hermès store on Madison Ave. His ex, Joanna, is the journalist covering the store’s grand opening. They meet again on the store’s opening date, a year and two months after they broke up. Clearly, the sparks are still there.

On Thursday night, Hermès opened its biggest store ever on New York’s Madison Avenue, taking over multiple streets with a musical named “Love Around the Block,” commissioned to celebrate the event. Taking place at four locations including the new store at 706 Madison Ave, Hermès’ old locations on the other end of the block, and the streets in between, the multi-million-dollar event was a festival of music, dancing, cocktail, finger food, and over-the-top decadence—with guests showing off their own Hermès scarf and handbag collections. 

The musical was written by Isaac Oliver and directed by Jason Eagan, with music and lyrics composed by Dave Malloy and featured talented singers, actors, and dancers—many of whom have held leading roles on Broadway. 

Restaurants on and around the block, including Amaranth, Nello, and Fleming by Le Bilboquet, were closed for the day due to the event.

Act one of the musical started off at the Birkin bag maker’s new building at 706 Madison Ave, where guests dressed in suit and tie, cocktail dresses, and gowns freely browsed Hermès’ scarves, perfumes, jewelry, clothes, watches, and home products on four floors and an open-air terrace. The musical ended at 691 Madison Ave., where Hermès’ old store was located—a structure that was hollowed out and turned into a multiple-floor speakeasy. The grand finale featured Max and Joanna as husband and wife and was followed by a dance party in the basement into the wee hours. 

“This house is like a tree. It’s grounded into the geometry of the city of New York,” said Pierre-Alexis Dumas, artistic executive vice president of Hermès, at a press event earlier Thursday. “This store is the expression of Hermès in New York. It’s a link between two cities, Paris and New York.”

About 45,000 square feet, the store has seven floors in total, with two basement floors for the back of house, four selling floors and a fifth one only accessible via elevators for after-sale services.

It is located in the 1922 Bank of New York and Trust Company building. On a back wall on the first floor, the original plaque with bank’s 1784 founders’ names, including Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr, hangs above men’s coats and jackets. To the left, the clock that was set above the cash wrap in the bank’s old days now has the hands set to 7:06, indicating the store’s street number.

Hermès’ new luxury store, with its 150 employees including a concierge and butlers, comes as slumps in the stock market and global inflation fuel concerns for an impending recession. The unease in the markets has turned some investors to value-holding items like Birkin bags and Rolexes. On Sept. 29, a Hermès Himalaya Retourne Kelly 25 handbag fetched a record price of $346,802 at a Sotheby’s auction.

“This project has been eight and one half years in the making, ” said Robert B. Chavez, president and CEO of Hermès USA. “The demand is so high. For our clients, if they see something they want, they snap it up.”

The building is dotted with 150 paintings and drawings from the 19th century onward; many are of, or related, to horses. “We have designed all kinds of images and objects within the equestrian culture,” said Dumas. The artworks may look arbitrary, but they’re full of “invisible links.”

At the menswear area on second floor, a series of etchings hang on the wall. They are studies by French artist Rosa Bonheur, whose renowned oil painting, The Horse Fair, is housed 20 blocks away at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. A small replica of a horse-drawn carriage stands at the entrance of the store. The carriage, named an English cab according to Dumas, was popular in cities like London and Paris since the 1830s (Hermès was founded in 1837) and was later introduced to New York City. 

“It’s a reminder of how our cultures are linked,” Dumas said.

For the first time, Hermès will offer a concierge desk at the entrance and a butler service on every floor, so clients will be accompanied by a staff member when someone on the service team go look for a pair of shoes or grab a cup of coffee, according to Chavez. There’s also a coffee bar on the first floor that holds collections of perfume, scarves, saddles, and purses. A rose Champagne bar sits next to the women’s shoe department on the third floor and a full bar is situated one floor above. 

At a quarter past ten o’clock Thursday night, Hermès’ old and new stores were still packed with boozy guests crowded near bars and snatching finger food off catering plates. Some waited outside a couple of food trucks painted with bold Hermès colors for small cheeseburgers, hotdogs, and fries. A cheerful woman behind a cart handed out mini pretzels with cheese or chocolate sauces on the side.

Further out on the block, where the music and laughter faded a bit, a person dressed in a black suit and tie and equipped with an earpiece seemed to be on break. He spoke to someone on his phone, “You won’t believe it, this thing is wild.”

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