Alicia Keys, photographed as she arrives at the first Alexander McQueen New York store opening in Manhattan’s meatpacking district at 419 West 14th Street on September 5, 2002.

McQueen’s 3,600-square-foot store was his first in the United States accompanying newcomer Stella McCartney. Both stores located in the former meatpacking plants on 14th Street, west of Ninth Avenue and a few doors from Jeffrey’s, another designer clothing store. Other tenants on the block included the housewares shop Bodum and several art galleries. 

Jeffery Kalinsky, who opened Jeffery’s in 1999, said he welcomed the McQueen and McCartney stores: “It gives people more reason to come to the neighborhood,” he said.

In a statement, Mr. McQueen said the neighborhood “projects an exciting energy that is unique for New York and totally right for McQueen.”

Despite the influx of small shops, many retailers still considered the area remote and untested as a shopping district, said Robin Abrams a broker with the Lansco Corporation. “For fashion-forward retailers and designers,” she said, “this is making more of a statement than going to SoHo or NoLiTa.” 

Earlier in the day Alicia performed at the NFL’s Kickoff Concert in Times Square. The concert was a kickoff to the NFL's first game of the season as the NFL led an unprecedented day of music and football-themed festivities in celebration and countdown to the San Francisco 49ers Vs. the New York Giants game at Giants Stadium that night.