Belgian Shoes, the 70-year-old handmade footwear brand that has quietly outfitted generations of New Yorkers from its East 55th Street storefront, is set to relocate within Midtown. The move will take the brand inside a newly built luxury residential tower just blocks from its current home.
According to Crain's New York, which broke the news, the brand is heading to Skyline Developers' 18W55, a 25-story, 97-unit residential tower at 18 West 55th Street that includes 5,265 square feet of retail space. The brand currently operates out of 110 East 55th Street, where, per Belgian Shoes, it has been selling handmade shoes crafted in Belgium and shipped to customers in New York City and around the world since 1955.
A Brand Born From Henri Bendel's Vision
Belgian Shoes traces its roots to 1955, when it was founded by Henri Bendel, the New York retail figure whose name still graces a department store legacy, according to WWD's feature on the brand's history. Today the company is run by sisters Barbara, Vanessa and Sarah Vanacker, who became its proprietors in 2019 and remain based in Izegem, Belgium, where the brand's factory is located, per a separate WWD report on the label's resurgence. The sisters have kept the business tightly controlled, refusing to sell online or through wholesale channels, the same report notes.
That scarcity has become part of the brand's appeal. WWD reports that Belgian Shoes has drawn a newer cohort of downtown-oriented shoppers even as it holds onto its longtime customer base, and prices have crept up amid inflation, climbing from the mid-$400s to an even $500 a pair. The two WWD accounts diverge on exact output: one described production capped at 8,000 pairs a year, often selling out of certain styles, while another put the figure closer to 10,000 pairs annually. Either way, the brand previously renovated its East 55th Street store for the first time since moving there, according to its own website.
The New Address: A Fresh Tower Off Fifth Avenue
The building Belgian Shoes is moving into is brand new. Skyline Developers completed the 97-unit apartment tower at 18 W. 55th St. after construction began in mid-2023 and the structure topped out in summer 2024, according to REBusinessOnline. Skyline officially welcomed residents to the 25-story tower on November 17, 2025, calling it an ultra-luxury boutique rental building situated on West 55th Street just off Fifth Avenue, per a company announcement distributed on PR Newswire.
The building was designed by Morris Adjmi Architects, the same announcement states.
Midtown Retail Momentum Fuels the Move
The relocation arrives amid a broader uptick in Manhattan storefront demand. The Manhattan retail market continued its strong recovery during the first half of 2026, with momentum extending beyond the borough's traditional prime corridors, according to a report from the Real Estate Board of New York. Average asking rents rose in eight of the 16 corridors the group tracks, while storefront availability tightened in many of the city's most competitive retail locations.
Food, fitness, apparel, luxury and digitally native brands have been leading that activity, REBNY's report notes, with leasing especially strong in SoHo, Madison Avenue, Lower Fifth Avenue, Bleecker Street and Flatiron.
Belgian Shoes is set to move to a nearby tower, continuing a 70-year retail story just a short walk from where it has stood for decades.
