Small Department Stores Go Upscale

BOSTON (TheStreet) -- The last 20 years have been a period of consolidation for many of America's most-beloved department stores. Some of the country's most famous independent chains -- I. Magnin, Wanamaker's and Bullock's -- have been acquired by larger rivals, such as Saks(SKS) and Macy's(M). That brought the end to many hometown department stores.

The trend has given rise to the micro-department store. These small-scale retailers sell designer merchandise in chic locations usually in the epicenter of a city's most up-and-coming shopping areas. This new breed of department store has become essential for fashionistas.

The Webster in Miami offers style in spades.

Widely considered the birthplace of the modern department store, New York is home to Barneys, Bloomingdales and Bergdorf Goodman. But if you don't live in New York or Atlanta, Jeffrey may not be a familiar fashion name.

Jeffrey, owned by Jeffrey Kalinsky, is a trendy version of the old-fashion department store, just on a smaller scale. The Chelsea outpost of Jeffrey offers a warehouse-inspired space that features cosmetics and fashions by DSquared, Prada and Alexander McQueen. Merchandise at Jeffrey is hand selected for the New York and Atlanta stores by in-house buyer David Rubenstein as well as Kalinsky himself.

From the backstreet casualness of Jeffrey's, Boston's Riccardi has more of an Italian flair at its Newbury Street boutique. After more than 30 years in business, Riccardi has stayed on top of couture trends by introducing lines by renegade designers such as John Galliano, Comme des Garcons and Prada to its New England clientele.

Perhaps the newest and best micro-department store to settle in the U.S. during the past year is The Webster in Miami. Inside a stylish deco storefront that was once a South Beach hotel, shoppers will find eccentrically furnished rooms and works by Tom Ford, Thom Browne and Rick Owens arranged like modern art displays.

The Webster is co-owned by one of the founders of Paris's swanky Colette, who wrote the book on Paris's micro-department store movement. The Webster's first-floor café, Caviar Kaspia, dishes up society lunches and fashionable Champagne happy hours that are reminiscent of the old grand cafes of old-fashioned department stores.