Where do you go now for the Bottega Veneta store that sat at 239 Worth Ave. for 35 years? Since July 13 it has been at 70 Royal Poinciana Way, north of Worth Avenue, in the redeveloped Royal Poinciana Playhouse building at The Royal Poinciana Plaza. That move sums up the island's pre-season shopping map. Most of the stores that opened this year are north of Worth Avenue. Most of what is changing on Worth Avenue itself is still in permits, design reviews and council agendas, and some of it won't open until 2027.
Put this year's changes side by side and a pattern shows up. Fashion labels are opening in smaller spaces on Royal Poinciana Way and Hammon Avenue. Worth Avenue's storefronts are being combined into bigger destinations: a jewelry flagship with private lounges, a 165-seat steakhouse, and a proposed arcade built around private clubs. These projects take longer to build, and they change what the avenue is for.
The fashion openings are happening up north
Bottega Veneta's new store is 2,784 square feet and carries ready-to-wear, handbags, and newer lines such as fine jewelry and fragrance. The Palm Beach Daily News reported it is the brand's third Florida store, after Bal Harbour and Miami's Design District. The Playhouse site started taking new retailers in March 2025, so Bottega Veneta arrived about 16 months after the building began filling.
The second opening is in midtown. Michael Kors Collection opened a 700-square-foot boutique at The Colony Hotel, 155 Hammon Ave. It took over the space Dolce & Gabbana used at the hotel for several years. The paper notes that Kors first visited The Colony in the early 1980s. The store sells the designer's ready-to-wear, handbags, footwear and accessories. It is a small shop inside a hotel, a format that suits a brand testing a return to the island.
One Worth Avenue tenant left the island altogether. The RealReal announced in August that it was closing its store at 331 Worth Ave. and would open at 700 S. Rosemary Ave., Suite 136, in downtown West Palm Beach on Aug. 13. If you used to drop off consignment on the way to lunch, you now have to cross the bridge.
What fills the space Bottega left
The 239 Worth Ave. storefront isn't getting a one-for-one replacement. Bulgari leased it together with the neighboring spaces that housed 55 Croisette and Poupette St. Barth. The Architectural Commission voted 6–1 on March 25 to approve the storefront design with conditions. The Palm Beach Daily News reported that the vote let the jeweler apply for construction permits.
The approved plan joins three storefront bays into one 3,479-square-foot store at 237–239 Worth Ave., with a showroom and two VIP lounges at the back. The facade will be stucco instead of travertine, with stucco columns and pilasters and saffron awnings cut down to fit the openings. There will be one entry door with a sidelight on each side. Commissioners also asked for changes to the fluting on the columns.
That makes it about 700 square feet larger than Bottega's new Royal Poinciana Way store. Three tenants become one, and private client rooms take up part of the floor plan. As of early October, the only published timing is that the store "could open as early as November." That is a forecast, not a date.
The one apparel brand headed to Worth Avenue is Vineyard Vines. Its representatives told the Town Council in August that the company plans to open a Worth Avenue store later this year. No street number or opening day has been published.
Where things stand heading into the season
| Business | Address | Status as of Oct. 5, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Bottega Veneta | 70 Royal Poinciana Way | Open since July 13 |
| Michael Kors Collection | The Colony, 155 Hammon Ave. | Open, reported Sept. 21 |
| The RealReal | 700 S. Rosemary Ave., West Palm Beach | Leaving the island; announced Aug. 13 opening |
| Bulgari | 237–239 Worth Ave. | Design approved; opening estimated as early as November |
| Vineyard Vines | Worth Avenue, address not published | Planned for later this year |
| Church Mouse coffee counter | 378 S. County Road | Approved July 15; no opening date reported as of late July |
| Le Bilboquet private dining | Worth Avenue | Conditional approval; one more approval outstanding |
| Room Service by Stephen Starr | 151 Worth Ave. | Conditionally approved; possible December 2027 opening |
| Burlington Arcade at Palm Beach | 150 Worth Ave. | Proposal filed Aug. 13; awaiting Architectural Commission and Town Council review |
The avenue's longer clock
Worth Avenue's biggest changes are on a timeline of years, not seasons. Restaurateur Stephen Starr's steakhouse, tentatively named Room Service, got conditional Town Council approvals on Sept. 9 for 151 Worth Ave. It is planned at 165 seats, and the ownership company says it could open as early as December 2027. That puts it more than a year after Bulgari's projected opening and after the whole 2026–27 season.
Across the street, the proposal for The Esplanade at 150 Worth Ave. would change the avenue more than any single store. Reuben Brothers and Crown Onyx Investments bought the property for $200 million earlier this year. Plans filed Aug. 13 would rename it Burlington Arcade at Palm Beach, after the London arcade Reuben Brothers owns, which opened in 1819. The program includes a Palm Beach Casa Tua with a 270-seat restaurant and private club, and a second private club led by London businessman Robin Birley. It also calls for a luxury retail store, a spa, a boutique, a Birley Bakery, and new storefronts, facades, awnings, walkways and terraces.
Nothing on that list is approved yet. The proposal still needs review by the Architectural Commission and the Town Council. It wasn't on the Sept. 23 Architectural Commission agenda, and it isn't on the published agenda for Oct. 28. The 150 Worth Ave. item on the Oct. 14 Town Council agenda covers a Starbucks reporting amendment, not the arcade. The Palm Beach Now report said Reuben Brothers also owns The Vineta Hotel and the ground floor of the Tiffany & Co. building on Worth Avenue. One owner's plans now reach across several of the avenue's best-known addresses.
Taken together, Bulgari's VIP lounges, Le Bilboquet's second-floor room for private dinner parties, and two proposed private clubs at The Esplanade add up to more private, invitation-style space on the avenue.
Smaller changes along South County Road
Changes near midtown are smaller. Church Mouse, the thrift shop at 378 S. County Road, got Town Council approval on July 15 for a small coffee-to-go counter. No opening date had been announced as of late July. Next door, the Oct. 14 Town Council agenda lists 380 S. County Road as "Formerly Le Bar e Vin." The town record doesn't give a closing date or name a new tenant.
Why the avenue looks quieter than its storefronts suggest
The town is also strict about how Worth Avenue gets used as a backdrop. A December 2024 ordinance requires Town Council approval for commercial photography and video and limits filming to seven days a month. In August, Vineyard Vines asked to bring as many as 35 crew members for a four-hour shoot. The council approved eight people working between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., with handheld equipment only, no changing tent, and a single shuttle van. The shoot was planned for the seawall near the Worth Avenue Clock Tower. Mac Duggal asked for two days and got one.
The same care applies to the larger projects. Bulgari's columns went back for a fluting revision before approval, and Room Service's approvals came with conditions. Changes on Worth Avenue happen slowly, one storefront and one hearing at a time, so the avenue you see this winter will look a lot like last winter's while its tenant list changes.
Dates for the calendar
- October: Worth Avenue historic walking tour tickets go back on sale. Tours start Wednesdays at 10:30 a.m. at Via Amore, 256 Worth Ave., and cost $25.
- Oct. 14 and Oct. 28: Town Council and Architectural Commission meetings. Watch these agendas for the next Worth Avenue applications.
- Nov. 10: "America Takes the Stage: From the White City to Whitehall" opens at the Flagler Museum and runs through May 30, 2027. The related lecture, "From Chicago to Palm Beach: The Legacy of the 1893 World's Fair," is Nov. 18.
- November, estimated: the earliest projected opening for Bulgari at 237–239 Worth Ave.
- Dec. 13: Carols on the Lawn with the Palm Beach Atlantic University Concert Choir at The Society of the Four Arts.
If you're thinking about how changes around Worth Avenue and Royal Poinciana Way could affect a home on the island, Opulence Group tracks these storefronts and town agendas through the season and can tell you what has actually opened and what is still on paper. Let's Connect.
