THIS IS STORY; Lower Manhattan’s Everchanging Retail Space
New York City has long offered its inhabitants the opportunity to transform common spaces into something new. I’ve seen a shared apartment turned into a salon, read how a water-tower hosts a secret nightclub, and just last week a group of artists in Greenpoint showed their site-specific work within an old medical office for a group exhibit called “This Won’t Hurt a Bit”. Between the travel hosting service Airbnb and non-profit art organizations like No Longer Empty, it is increasingly considered both creatively hip and business savvy to envision the various ways a simple room quickly becomes a venue.
THIS IS STORY, a retail space on 10th Avenue and 19th Street in Lower Manhattan, entered the scene as a store meant to change every four to eight weeks. Describing itself as a magazine in the form of a retail space, founder Rachel Shechtman created THIS IS STORY as an opportunity for her to work across the board with different brands as a strategist in merchandising, business development and marketing. Some weeks the vibe of the store is based on a theme and other times based on a specific vendor or idea. What was once the Love Store has since become Chop-To-It, inspired by men’s products. For the next couple weeks one can stop by between the hours of 4-7 for a hot towel shave, free of charge. (RSVP HERE)
In a March interview with Shechtman she explains how creating a malleable store in Chelsea was an organic solution for finding an engaging and modern shopping experience that reflects online trends: “You have so many new business models online, and yet for physical retail, it’s still all about sales per square foot. It’s beyond archaic in my opinion.”
www.thisisstory.com
144 10th Ave. at 19th Street
New York, New York
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