Kiosk’s exhibits are constantly changing, and their current exhibit is called, “Ongoing”
A SoHo gift store packaged inside a two-story building is the home of the Canadian-made clothesline pulley setup for $62. It is home to the $90 powder-coated steel toolbox made in Osaka, Japan and the $6 aluminum hooks crafted in Portugal. Trinkets, heavy and light, collected from countries far and states near, create an “experimental retail” space between Mercer Street and Broadway on Spring Street. Its name is Kiosk.
Opened in 2005 by married couple, travel companions and business partners Alisa Grifo and Marco ter Haar Romeny, Kiosk houses trinkets – airing on the side of souvenirs-turned-gifts – on a legless table in the center of the loft-like space hanging from the ceiling, on shelf-lined walls, and artfully displayed in cubbies along the ground.
However warmly and meticulously curated, the second-floor store is in a state of dramatic transformation, and the four-to-six-person Kiosk team has been aware of the change for months: Kiosk is being evicted.
529 Broadway, built in 1936, is being torn down in early 2014. The building was bought in 2012 for $147.9 million. Plans began in July.
Trinkets from Japan, Canada, Germany, and beyond are showcased at Kiosk
“We already knew the building had been bought,” said Honora Dunham of Kiosk. Dunham, 28, has worked with Kiosk for about a year. Dunham is one of two-four (depending on the time of year) Kiosk employees beside owners Grifo and ter Haar Romeny.
“We’re sad to leave, we’ve been here for eight years,” said Dunham of the eviction, “and it’s kind of all up in the air right now. We’re looking for another place now. We’re open to Manhattan and Brooklyn, it’s just a matter of finding the right space.”
Investors, including big-time broker Bobby Cayre of Aurora Capital Associates, plan to turn the building into a six-story retail space reminiscent of its predecessor: the 1853 hotel Prescott House, demolished during the Great Depression.
Ms. Dunham, in a baby blue shirt and wild brunette curls, mentioned her background in art and design. She received her bachelor’s degree in art history from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine and has since worked with various design firms. She lives in Williamsburg, working with Kiosk about four days a week. Dunham says the charm of the space will be difficult to recreate in another retail setting.
“It’s a unique, unorthodox space, with the stairwell, and being on the second floor,” said Dunham, “and it’s kind of what’s happening with SoHo. We’re sad that it seems impossible for [stores like Kiosk] without becoming a corporate endeavor.
She is referring to “the stairwell” that leads up to the second floor of the building entrance on Spring Street. Covered in colorful graffiti tags and complete with a handrail strung with festive lights, the stairwell is as elusive and colorful as the space it leads to. A neon pink arrow points downward to the stairwell, wedged in between Sabon, a luxury fragrance store, and Teno, a jeweler. “KIOSK” is painted in bright orange letters on the sidewalk on Spring Street guiding the public into the door, up the stairwell, to the right two steps, and into Kiosk.
Each item in Kiosk has either been hand-selected by the owners on their travels – “[Kiosk] is sort of like a travel story,” said Dunham – or rotated throughout different Kiosk-affiliated locations throughout the world, including Gravel and Gold in San Francisco and Postalco in Tokyo. The $21 natural cat toy made of matatabi, a silver vine grown in the Fukushima region of Japan, sits next to the $6 Indian copper and brass jewelry. Each item is carefully documented for customers: the dominant material of the item for sale, the price on a dime-sized black-and-white display, and a colorful description.
Kiosk’s lighting is warm once patrons walk in the second-floor door, artwork and festive lights adorning the walls
Of a Yelp.com review that criticized Kiosk’s selling of marked-up “kitschy” foreign items to manipulate tourists and the clientele, Dunham was flip in return. “I’m sure this guy hasn’t even been here,” said Dunham, “and we wouldn’t call our things ‘kitschy.’”
Best-selling items in Kiosk include simpler ornaments that carry great visual appeal: a birdcall whistle, colorful fountain pens, fold-out scissors, and hotel key tags.
Dunham mentioned that for staying a small business in SoHo, it’s all about “staying afloat,” and Kiosk has taken up social media to keep up with their clientele, who Dunham include “many Japanese, European, and New York creative types.” Kiosk is fairly new to Instagram, having opened their account just this past August, but has a “great big mailing list.” “We’re not social media mavens,” Dunham joked.
Many loyal Kiosk customers have shown interest in following the store to their next location, and Honora Dunham has high hopes. “We’re sad to go, like I said,” said Dunham, “and it’s really all up in the air right now.”
Strong edit!