Jones Lang LaSalle

Bra specialist thinking big

Diana Simon, owner of the high-end Bra Smyth store on the Upper East Side, is determined to eradicate the scourge of ill-fitting brassieres--those with straps that pinch and underwires that poke.

Ms. Simon is implementing an ambitious plan to open as many as 150 locations nationwide by starting close to home. She recently signed two leases: one for a 1,600-square-foot store at 2177 Broadway, at the corner of West 77th Street, and one in the Mall at Short Hills, N.J.

Ms. Simon plans to have all the shops open by 2011 with backing from private equity investors, whom she would not name. She will open stores in SoHo and the Flatiron district, and continue to operate the flagship on Madison Avenue, between East 72nd and East 73rd streets. "We've been waiting for this for a long time," Ms. Simon says. Her employees fit women with products sized from AA to H.

Ms. Simon signed a 15-year lease for the Upper West Side space. She wanted a corner space on the west side of Broadway so that her store would attract shoppers at Barneys Co-Op, between West 75th and West 76th streets.

"It's a very competitive market, especially for a boutique size like this," says ZE Realty principal Scott Edlitz, who negotiated the deal for both Ms. Simon and the landlord, Belleclaire Hotel. "When something pops up with 1,000 square feet, 16 people start banging their heads to get in there." Asking rent was $275 a square foot.

--Elisabeth Butler