Last night Oscar Farinetti, the Italian founder of Eataly, announced plans to open not one but two more Eataly stores in Manhattan with American partners Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich. One will be somewhere uptown and the other downtown, which lines up with recent rumors that the Italian mega-store is headed for 4 World Trade Center. The Eataly team has yet to confirm the exact location, and a rep recently told Eater that "nothing was set in stone" at 4 WTC, but Farinetti did reveal that the new downtown store would be "near" the site of the World Trade Center.
Wherever the two stores land, Farinetti promises that each will have its own theme, and that the theme for the downtown store will be "peace." No word yet on an opening date for either, but Farinetti did also announce plans for stores in DC, LA and Philadelphia, and said that he plans to open the first South American Eataly by 2015, possibly in São Paolo.
When asked about the downtown and uptown locations today, an Eataly rep told Eater: "[W]e are interested in opening a second store in New York — however nothing has been set yet." Stay tuned for more details as they become available.
· Eataly Founder Says 2 More Stores Will Open in NYC [GS]
· All Coverage of Eataly [~ENY~]