Shopping for your home in a city that’s not your own can be frustrating: it’s easy to fall in love with a mid-century modern sectional sofa but how do you get it home? At John Derian Company (6 East Second Street, +1 212 677 3917; johnderian.com), however, you’ll find portable temptations, such as the designer’s découpage trays and bowls with motifs borrowed from old engravings. Jonathan Adler (37 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich Village, +1 212 488 2803; jonathanadler. com) has cleverly installed “gift bars” in each of his design shops, with affordable candles, coasters, and vases in a playful Palm Springs style. Anyone with a nose for fragrance should check out MiN New York (117 Crosby Street, +1 212 206 6366; minnewyork. com), a perfumer’s cabinet of wonders, and the definitive New York drugstore, C.O. Bigelow Pharmacy (414 Sixth Avenue; +1 212 533 2700; bigelowchemists. com), for its charm, brass chandeliers, and unparalleled toiletries. In Williamsburg, one stop from Manhattan on the Brooklynbound L train – or a fine walk over the Williamsburg Bridge in good weather – the vibe is calmer, scrappy, but sophisticated. Oak (55 Nassau Avenue +1 718 782 0521; oaknyc.com) sells clothing of the non-conformist and predominantly black and white variety, most of it designed on the spot. Definitely a place for people who party past midnight. Space Ninety 8 (98 North Sixth Street, +1 718 599 0209; spaceninety8.com), offers a more cheerful take on outer-borough chic: this is an example of the trending “concept store,” where a well-established brand – in this case the college-kid jeans and sneaker chain Urban Outfitters – adds products from other labels, a DJ, and a bar into the retail mix as a means of freshening its image. The result here is a pure success: the soaring former factory has the feel of an eco lodge in Central America, but one that sells ceramics, Vans sneakers and an OCTOBER/NOVEMBER 2014
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