Chelsea’s Boutique Story Teams with Target for “Home For the Holidays”
Located in Chelsea on a stretch of Tenth Avenue that's better known for its glittering gallery scene and proximity to the High Line, Story takes the concept of the pop-up store to wonderful extremes. Every six to eight weeks, the doors close and the interior is completely redesign and filled with all new inventory; everything based on whatever new "narrative"–aka theme, trend, or concept–feels most relevant. Each new story at Story is sponsored by some sort of heavy hitter (American Express, Home Depot, General Electric), which chips in to get co-branding, and also uses the space as a kind of laboratory for products and/or marketing strategies. Story will be a great holiday hit – all the goods are tasteful, fun, thoughtfully curated, and priced to move.
Story x Target: Home For The Holidays
No surprise, then, that the brand new Story theme, Home For the Holidays, is a huge crowd-pleaser. When I went on opening weekend to check out this year's gift-giving "issue" the place packed with happy folks, both tourists and locals, eager to start their season's shopping early. The annual holiday Story is always the most crammed-full with goodies of any of the store's narratives, for obvious reasons, but because Home For the Holidays is sponsored by mega-discount-retailer Target, there seems to be more stocking stuffers than usual. And just more STUFF in general. Not that anyone was complaining: there might be a lot of inexpensive items at Home For the Holidays, but I didn't see anything cheap. And as befits its somewhat classy, somewhat gritty (well, not anymore.. but we can pretend, right?) setting, Story pulls off an underground vibe, even while being heavily staffed by super-friendly young people, eager to help and tell you the Story story.
Home For The Holidays Gift Guide
Like any gift guide, Home For the Holidays is divided into sections: For Her in the back, For Him up front, For the Kids crammed into the hallway (but stacked high with quality toys and accessories), and, upon entering the space, For the Home. There's way too much here for me to pick out any favorites (though I did like those $3.99 Hedgehog tree ornaments), with merchandise categories ranging from books to furniture to sweaters to pillows to ornaments to gag items to gloves to notebooks to tattoos to… well you get the idea. You'd be hard pressed to NOT find something cool and unique for at least a couple of people on your list. And huge amazing bonus alert: the excellent, Vendy Award-winning Snowday food truck which not only makes the best grilled cheese sandwich I've had all year (among many other delights), but also hires, trains, and then places into permanent positions youths who were formerly incarcerated in New York's prison system, will be parked out front of Story almost every Saturday through the holiday season.
For Hours and More Information on Story
Story is located on the corner of Tenth Avenue and 19th Street, and is open daily at 11:00 a.m., and until 8:00 p.m on Monday to Wednesday, and Friday and Saturday; until 9:00 p.m. on Thursdays; and 7:00 p.m. on Sundays.
Posted in NYC Events | Tagged Boutique • Chelsea • November • Shopping • Story • Target
