We went to one of New York's most famous department stores after it sold to an office startup and saw the retail apocalypse playing out firsthand

Mark Matousek/Business Insider

Lord & Taylor's flagship store was sold to WeWork on Tuesday.

• Lord & Taylor announced on Tuesday that it would sell its flagship store to the co-working startup WeWork.
• The building will become WeWork's headquarters in 2018.
• The deal is yet another sign of how destructive the retail apocalpyse has been.
• On a visit to the store after the announcement, we saw empty aisles and lots of discounts.

On Tuesday, Canadian retailer Hudson's Bay announced it would sell its landmark Lord & Taylor store on Fifth Avenue to co-working startup WeWork for $850 million. Lord & Taylor will continue to operate the entire building through the end of this year.

WeWork recently raised $4.4 billion in funding from SoftBank Group and SoftBank Vision Fund and is now considered the most valuable startup in New York City. The flagship Lord & Taylor building will serve as WeWork's headquarters.

While Lord & Taylor is not leaving the building entirely - it will rent about 25% of the space - the sale is symbolic for the struggling department store and for retail as a whole, as shoppers continue to move away from brick-and-mortar stores toward online options. Lord & Taylor has occupied the building on Fifth Avenue since 1914.

We visited Lord & Taylor's flagship Fifth Avenue store on Wednesday to see how it's prepared for the holiday season and the ensuing transition. While the store was offering plenty of discounts, it attracted a small fraction of the significant foot traffic outside.

Here's how Lord & Taylor will end its run as the sole operator of its iconic Fifth Avenue location.