The Shophound

POP-UP ALERT: Herman Miller Launches Its New Collection With A SoHo Pop-Up

The Shophound is still traipsing around Los Angeles right now, but we couldn't help noticing that back home in New York, Herman Miller, the legendary furniture and design brand is opening a Pop-Up store in SoHo today to introduce the Herman Miller Collection, the company's current portfolio of modern furniture designs from contemporary designers, iconic figures like Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi and important designers of the past whose names may be less well known like Ward Bennett, whose striking scissor chair is pictured on the left in the image above. PSFK tells us that the Pop-Up will run during New York Design Week and through the month of July, and will include artwork from galleries in the area as well as a curated accessory area with items chosen specifically to coordinate with Herman Miller's distinctive modernist design aesthetic.

Herman Miller Pop Up Shop, May 9th through July 1st at 68 Wooster Street between Spring & Broome Streets, Soho
Herman Miller New York Popup Shop Can Furnish An Entire Home Art And All (PSFK)

EMPLOYEE IF THE WEEK: Coco-Mat's Rosemary Charou Will Sell You A Good Night's Sleep

New York Magazine's "Ask A Shop Clerk" feature seems to be increasing in frequency. Recently, SoHo's Coco-Mat is in the spotlight, which only reminded The Shophound of the last time "Ask A Shop Clerk" interrogated a mattress seller. It's been a while, so we don't know whether Hästens' Ryan Stepka is still hawking pricey mattresses, but he's old news now. SoHo's top mattress seller is now Rosemary Charou, who will send you to sleep on one of Coco-Mat's not-at-all inexpensive all natural beds. Rosemary is not nearly as personally forthcoming as her erstwhile predecessor. In fact she's all business and product knowledge, so we don't learn much about her at all. We do learn that her mattresses are all natural and metal free, meaning no springs and only natural rubber, coconut fiber, real seaweed, horsehair, and wool and other natural materials are used in the products. Sounds nice. How does $1,660 sound as an opening price point? There are some extra added selling points:

NY Mag: What makes that better than a regular mattress?
Rosemary: Rubber is one of the most hypoallergenic materials in nature—except for those allergic to latex, of course. And because these have organic cotton and wool covers, you won’t get dust mites.

NYM: What about bedbugs?
R: That’s the great thing: Natural rubber is inhospitable to bedbugs. They don’t like the smell.

If you can repel bedbugs, you can probably sell those beds for whatever you want in New York City.

Ask a Shop Clerk: Rosemary Charou (NYMagazine)
Coco-Mat 49 Mercer Street near Broome Street, SoHo
Previously:
Employee Of The Week: Ryan Stepka at Hästens (10/30/2006)

FLASH ALERT: One Kings Lane Launches A Sale From Celebrated Socialite Chessy Rayner

Though burgeoning home furnishings site One Kings Lane has been doing quite well with its regular flash sales, it, like many of its competitors, has lately expanded into more specialized events partnering with prominent interior designers to offer exclusive products alongside its selection of bargains. This Saturday, November 5th, it is raising the bar with a special sale of merchandise from one of the great tastemakers of the late 20th century. Chessy Rayner was not only a mainstay on the glittering New York social scene, but with her business partner Mica Ertegun and her impressive web of fashion and social connections she became an enormously influential interior decorator. Though she passed away at 66 in 1998, her estate is making an impressive cache of about 750 items available to One Kings Lane customers for 72 hours starting on Saturday.

Items range from caftans and books to Christofle tea and coffeepots to antique furniture to a set of Louis Vuitton Luggage. Everything is from her personal collection, gathered from her homes in Manhattan, Southampton, Palm Beach and St. Maarten. Usually these sorts of things go to auction houses or dealers (and probably the most valuable pieces from her estate did), but here they have been kept together to offer shoppers a glimpse into Mrs. Rayner's unique taste and sensibilities.

The sale can be previewed on One Kings Lane HERE and runs through Monday. If you need an invitation, click HERE).

DEATHWATCH: Steuben Calls It Quits Forever

The Shophound was surprised to see the windows of the Steuben store on Madison Avenue plastered with Final Sale signs, and when we walked into the store, there was the unmistakably mournful air of a once venerable and still well-admired company drawing its last breaths. A crestfallen salesperson told us that Steuben is not just closing the store, but shutting down its 108-year-old crystal and glass production entirely. Within a few weeks, it will be gone from the market completely, ending an era of fine crystal and art glass production in the United States. The Madison Avenue shop is its only freestanding store.

Owned for most of its existence by commercial glass giant Corning Inc., Steuben was nurtured to produce fine glass and crystal that could compete with legendary overseas brands like Baccarat and Waterford. Whether or not it was a big moneymaker for Corning, its quality and prestige were points of pride for the company which made enough money from Pyrex and Corningware to support an artisanal division that represented the finest America could offer. For generations, no upscale-minded home or bridal registry would be complete without at least one or two pieces of Steuben glass even if it was just an ashtray or paperweight. The name became a mainstay in luxury stores like Saks and Neiman Marcus, often presented in its own, pristine in-store boutiques which was uncommon for a crystal and glassware brand. The company's failure to keep up with changing tastes led it to fall out of favor by the time the 21st century began, and new corporate pressure to operate more profitably led to lower quality products that didn't help matters. In 2008, the brand was sold to retail conglomerate Schottenstein Stores Inc., who quietly chose to shut it down about six weeks ago. Though Corning has since reacquired the trademarks, and may rehire a few of the laid-off workers, it is not expected that it will start producing glassware under the name again.

The upside for collectors is that today's closeouts will become coveted collectors items before too long, especially if they came from Steuben's upstate New York factories. What's disappointing, though, is that at a time when luxury markets are again surging, and distinguished American clothing brands like Woolrich, L.L.Bean and Pendleton are being revamped and rediscovered by a younger generation, nobody can figure out how to preserve an iconic name like Steuben.

Steuben 667 Madison Avenue (at 61st Street)

JON CARAMANICA GOES SHOPPING: Scandinavian Sensory Overload Edition

The Tmes' Critical Shopper column threw us a bit of a curve today by assigning Jon Caramanica to review the new Marimekko flagship store instead of the other chick. That is not to say that he does not have some pointed things to say about the store. After all, lately he has been emphasizing the 'critical' side of 'Critical Shopper'. While the ongoing craze for retro style made a revival of Marimekko's bold, graphic prints an inevitability, Caramanica is not convinced, and to him, the whole enterprise looks dated. He sees it as a glorified fabric store, best suited for the D.I.Y. crowd, and it is the clothing offerings that seem to irk him the most.

Almost everything here begged for a belt or a rope or a handful of safety pins, even the plain but charming pieces done in Breton stripes, especially the maxidress dangling near the back of the store like a challenge, one that had been (willingly?) accepted by a saleswoman, who cinched it with a wide belt, augmented with strappy clog sandals: the chicest prison outfit possible.

Epic run-on sentences aside, this week's column proves that Caramanica is wittier when unimpressed, and he lets loose more than a few zingers, so we are all for sending him outside of his menswear-centric comfort zone. We're not really sure that Marimekko is as bad as all that, but we're happy to let him go to town on them.

Critical Shopper | Marimekko: An Outspoken Elder, Very Now By Jon Caramanica (NYTimes)
Marimekko 200 Fifth Avenue at 24th Street, Flatiron District

SALE ALERT: Henckels Weekend Kitchen Blowout

Sometimes it isn't all about clothes.

Yesterday, The Shophound stumbled into a sale we didn't even know we wanted to go to. Chelsea Market's revolving sale space is currently hosting a sale from Zwilling J.A. Henckels which includes tables and tables of fine steel kitchen knives from the famed German cutlers as well as jewel toned French cast iron cookware from Staub and gleaming, artfully designed Belgian steel cookware from Demeyere. If you are used to browsing Sur la Table or the second floor at Zabar's with no intentions other than outfitting the shiny fantasy kitchen in your head, then this weekend you can come to Chelsea Market and seriously buy. OK, yeah, it doesn't look as interesting as racks full of designer clothes, but believe us, those tables are treasure troves for kitchen enthusiasts.

If you don't know the difference between a cheap kitchen knife and a solid quality one, this is a good place to find out. Of course, many of these items are still an investment, but Henckels knives will last forever with proper care and most of them are priced at about 50% off their retail prices, often more. If you can find a basic chef's knife of forged, high carbon German steel for around $50, then you have found a great deal, and there are several to choose from at this sale. If you're on a tighter budget, there is also a selection of Henckels' less pricey opening lines which can be had for a song along with accessories like scissors, sharpeners and knife blocks for $10 and less. A lot of these items are often on sale at Macy's and Bloomingdale's but rarely at prices this good, and this event features some staff who will enthusiastically answer questions and explain the differences between the various product lines —something we have yet to encounter at Bed Bath & Beyond.

Zwilling J.A. Henckels Sale through Sunday, June 5^th Chelsea Market, 75 Ninth Avenue between 15^th and 16^th Streets, Chelsea

NOW OPEN: Home Goods Causes A Stir On The Upper West Side

We missed Home Goods' early morning opening on Sunday, but when we stopped by yesterday, we could tell that it had been a success as workers were still scrambling to replenish goods all over the store, which was remarkably busy for a drizzly Monday afternoon.

We have been watching for the opening for a while. For one thing, it's only a stone's throw from The Shophound's Upper West Side HQ, and we had already found ourselves frequently browsing the nearby TJMaxx for household bargains, so how bad could a bigger version of that be?

Not bad at all, it turns out. Like any off-pricer, if you hit it on the right day, it can be pretty great. This is Home Goods' first entry into Manhattan, but there won't be too many surprises for anyone familiar with the home offerings at TJMaxx and Marshalls. They all draw from the same sources, but there is a whole lot more to choose from at this new superstore. The street level is devoted to kitchen and tabletop categories including an abundance of All-Clad, Cuisinart and Calphalon products which, at times, can render Williams-Sonoma obsolete. Downstairs, there is everything else from furniture to bed and bath as well as lamps and other gifts and home accessories.

How much you will enjoy shopping at Home Goods depends on how much you like hunting through off-price stores for that irresistible bargain. If you like rummaging through the dusty basement at Century 21 for a great deal on a set of knives or a discounted frying pan, then spacious, well-lit Home Goods will feel like a luxury store. If you have no patience for that sort of thing, then by all means, stick to Bloomingdale's. This kind of store is for the shopper with a sixth sense who can weed out the finds from the filler. A strong sense of your own taste is indispensable, because while familiar brands like Ralph Lauren, Vera Wang, Calvin Klein and Barbara Barry pop up all over the store, there are also a lot of anonymous labels you have probably never heard of, and may exist only for selling in off-price channels. In fact, some of the well known brands offer goods here that are manufactured for outlets and off-price selling only. That doesn't mean that they aren't any good, it just means you have to have a good sense of quality and what sorts of things you really like in order to be successful there. For example, All that All-Clad is marked as seconds, which doesn't mean that it won't cook your food just as well, but there is probably a scratch somewhere that disqualified it from Macy's. Like any off pricer, hit or miss is the rule at Home Goods. There's no knowing exactly what's going to be on the floor at any given time, but once you get to know the store, you can get a pretty good idea what kinds of merchandise they tend to have.

In the end, if you have been enjoying the recent proliferation of Marshalls and TJMaxx in the city, then you will probably find yourself visiting Columbus Avenue at around 99th Street frequently, especially of you have a kitchen or a bedroom to outfit, but if those stores don't do anything for you, then you'll probably be happier at the more reliable Bed Bath & Beyond.

Home Goods 795 Columbus Avenue at 99th Street, Upper West Side
Previously:
OFF-PRICE ALERT: Home Goods Stocks Its Shelves For A Sunday Morning Opening

OFF-PRICE ALERT: Home Goods Stocks Its Shelves For A Sunday Morning Opening

Curious shoppers were turned away from Manhattan's first Home Goods store this weekend. That activity they saw inside was not shopping, but workers filling the shelves with merchandise. The store will open this Sunday, and complete the TJX Companies' significant increase in presence in the New York City area. Technically, the five borough's first Home Goods opened a couple of weekends ago in Flatbush, but this will be the first one opening in Manhattan during a year that has seen a notable rollout of the corporation's Marshalls and T.J.Maxx stores. From what we can gather, The chain offers similar merchandise as its sibling stores without all the clothing, accessories and cosmetics, offering an expanded range of furniture, bed & bath, kitchen and tabletop categories, but we'll have to wait until Sunday like everyone else to get a full picture. Following the corporate pattern of clustering stores near one another in the city —Chelsea's Marshalls and T.J.Maxx are literally on top of each other— the Home Goods store is directly across Columbus Avenue from a popular T.J.Maxx unit, so potential customers won't have to to hunt too far.

Devoted discount shoppers should set their alarms. Home Goods will open at 8 AM, but then they should all be familiar with the whole "early bird" concept.

Home Goods opens Sunday May 22 at 8 AM, 795 Columbus Avenue at about 99^th Street, Upper West Side

BIG BOX WATCH: Home Goods Hangs Its Banner On Columbus Avenue

We heard last Summer that Home Goods was coming to the Columbus Square retail development (we hesitate to call it a strip mall, but with TJ Maxx, Modell's and Michael's...). It will be the final component of TJX Companies' recent initiative to entrench its big box chains in Manhattan. At the time, the store was projected to open during the first quarter of this year, but the space is still pretty raw looking, and the company has only just put up its "Coming Soon" banner. We can't tell when it's going to open, but they have a a little over 26,000 square feet to finish, so we'll be surprised if it's done before the end of March.

What we do know is that the store will be at 795 Columbus Avenue, somewhere between where 98^th and 99^th Streets would cross, directly across the street from TJ Maxx, its sister store. This will be New York City's second branch of the Home Goods, after the one on Staten Island (which we don't totally count —no offense to S.I.ers). For those who are unfamiliar, it is essentially, just like Marshalls or TJ Maxx without all the clothes and accessories. That means it can be either a cavalcade of fantastic kitchenware, bedding and home furnishings bargains, or a giant collection of sad, picked-over off-price merch depending on which day you hit it. You may think that Manhattan has already got more than its fair share of big-box stores, but The Shophound has had some awfully good luck at TJ Maxx's home department, so we're guessing that whenever Home Goods opens, it will be drawing even more shoppers to the upper reaches of Columbus Avenue.

CINTRA WILSON GOES SHOPPING: Happy Homemaker Edition

After a week's break, today's Critical Shopper Cintra Wilson starts off with a memory of a meticulously arranged clothesline she saw once in Poughkeepsie NY.
Poughkeepsie?
Well, if she says so. Anyway, this is all to introduce us to Williamsburg's Brook Farm General Store, which sounds like the sort of place that stocks itself with merchandise that's been made the same way for decades but costs a whole lot more now than it used to in the '50s. There's even a friendly beagle on site. The whole thing sounds adorable, and Cintra seems surprisingly charmed. And yet, already, we hate it a little without ever having been there.

It sounds like the Gwyneth Paltrow's GOOP of home stores —the kind of place that fetishizes humble workaday items and reprices them for rich folks,

There is an excellent selection of blue-collar lunch-break items — goods once carried by 1950s building site supervisors with crew cuts and pocket protectors. There are Sigg metal lunchboxes, not unlike oversize anchovy tins ($29), and classic green Stanley thermoses ($30) that are a throwback to someone’s dad’s clean garage. I had never seen a Stanley flask ($20) before, but I reckoned that many a factory worker pocketed them in their coveralls until too many industrial accidents happened.

That's $79 worth of lunchbox and accessories and there's not even any food in it yet! Of course, a fancypants like The Shophound has no business criticizing such a place without having had a visit, we just don't like to pay retail. Come to think of it, we can work up a hankering for porcelain measuring spoons or linen tea towels pretty damn fast.

Sorry, we need to get to the "L" train...

Critical Shopper: A Primer for the Wholesome, Happy Home By Cintra Wilson (NYTimes)
Brook Farm General Store 75 South 6^th Street, Brooklyn