Photo: Scott White, New Avon CEO, takes the stage at the company’s annual RepFest event.
New Avon has settled on New York City’s Lower Manhattan as the site of its new headquarters.
The company known as New Avon formed in December 2015, when Avon Products Inc. sold a majority interest in its North American business to the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management. Since that time, Avon Products has transitioned its corporate team to the United Kingdom, vacating the brand’s longtime headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.
Now, New Avon is making its own move to One Liberty Plaza, a 54-story tower that houses a variety of organizations, including Goldman Sachs and the nonprofit Lower Manhattan Development Corp. To facilitate the expansion, New Avon worked with New York’s Empire State Development (ESD) agency, which will grant the company tax credits based on performance.
“This company has a long, successful legacy operating in New York and we look forward to the new jobs and economic opportunity generated by their continued growth in the Empire State,” said Howard Zemsky, President, CEO and Commissioner of ESD.
About 400 employees will transition to One Liberty Plaza, where New Avon has secured 91,000 square feet on two floors of the tower. From there, the company will stage its ongoing reinvention of Avon North America, following several years of declining sales. The 130-year-old brand has struggled to attract new Representatives, the independent distributors who sell its cosmetics and fragrances, amid a more competitive direct sales market fueled by new technologies.
 One Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan |
“We were attracted to Lower Manhattan because it is a vibrant and growing area, anchored by the Freedom Tower and the Westfield World Trade Center,” said Scott White, New Avon CEO. “This location will embody the Avon of the future, so we’d like to thank Governor Cuomo and the team at Empire State Development for helping us make this exciting move a reality.”
The company expects to move into the new space by late summer. The offices will follow an open concept, to encourage collaboration among the various departments. New Avon also operates a Customer Insights Center in Springdale, Ohio, that has been overhauled and expanded in the past year.
