GSTQ Opens Pop-up on Mercer Street in SoHo
GSTQ, a direct-to-consumer lifestyle and apparel brand founded last year by Dany Garcia, chairwoman of The Garcia Cos., is expanding into brick-and-mortar.
The brand will open a 2,500-square-foot pop-up shop at 149 Mercer Street in New York on Thursday and remain open until March 19.
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The shop was designed by LonDell Wright for W2 Creative Solutions; floral installations are by Flower Bodega, and there’s a photo series installation by Jennifer Jonson of Jenphoto. At the back of the store is a sunken living room-inspired space, adjacent to two fitting rooms.
“Supporting and elevating the women in our community is very important to us. This monthlong installation allows us several opportunities to do that — whether through the event we’re holding with Step Up or the model search we’ll be hosting on March 11. It’s also a chance to engage with our community and for our community to engage with our collection, our fabrics and our brand,” Garcia said.
Thanassi Karageorgiou
Garcia — who is also cofounder, along with ex-husband Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, of Seven Bucks Productions, and chairwoman and owner of the XFL football league, among other businesses — entered the apparel business with GSTQ as an e-commerce platform in May 2021. Garcia said the GSTQ business “is doing extremely well.”
For GSTQ, the SoHo pop-up looks to be a precursor to future pop-ups. “Wholesale is our immediate focus. But we’re also looking toward pop-ups in other cities across the country throughout the rest of the year,” Garcia said. The brand has organically developed a following in cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, Miami and Atlanta. While the brand doesn’t have any wholesale accounts yet, it will be showing its collection from Feb. 27 to March 1 at the Coterie trade show in New York.
In 2021, bestsellers on the site included outerwear, sweaters and leather. As for what she predicts will be bestsellers at the store, Garcia said, “versatility is huge part of the collection. Every piece can be a hero piece, but I can say that everyone who has seen the collection can’t stop talking about the VIP Anorak.”
She said the shop will carry outerwear, blazers and dresses, adding that, “we’re really excited to introduce our spring collection, which brings many more eco-friendly materials to our whole line. We’re determined to make a positive impact,” she said.
GSTQ has tapped Robin Arzon, Peloton’s head instructor, as an ambassador for the brand, and Garcia said she selected her for several reasons.
“Our core values are vision, ambition, individuality and movement, and Robin is such a great representation of those values. We have a very specific worldview at GSTQ, a specific mind-set, and our intention is to purposefully build a group of ambassadors who can communicate our point of view. Robin is going to do a lot to help people understand what it means to live in this universe we’ve created, which is why we’re so excited about our partnership,” Garcia said.
Thanassi Karageorgiou
The pop-up shop is taking over what was formerly a Balenciaga store at 149 Mercer. It’s across the street from the new Balenciaga store and Lanvin.
“We’ll fit right in,” she said.
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