An exciting new project downtown-The Collective

Have you been downtown lately?  Washington Avenue has been growing in so many ways.  A brand new Pi Pizzeria just opened in the Mercantile Exchange building across from the soon-to-be-open Blues Museum.  Down the street is the ever popular Bailey's Range, Left Bank Books and Bridge wine bar.  The area is increasingly busy with tourists and native St. Louisans alike, which is why Nicole Benoist, former editor of St. Louis magazine, decided that the area is perfect for a retail co-op space.

The co-op, called The Collective, will open August 20th, 2012.  We have been asked if we would like to rent a space and we have decided to take the leap!  We are so excited!! 

Last Thursday, the 31st, we went to a cocktail party to see the space which hasn't even been built yet.  It was pretty rough, but we were able to envision the way our space could look.  They had a sample display set up that was really artsy and inventive.  It showed us that we could get very creative in our area which is pretty much our dream.

Here's the two of us with our wine that was provided by Robust.  They will have a space across the street soon too!

It's kind of hard to see, but the windows across the street in this picture are the front of the Blues Museum.  Someone has hand painted the entire glass front of the building and we are getting really excited to see inside.  On the opposite corner is the convention center which will bring thousands of tourists who will hopefully shop in The Collective!

During the cocktail party Thursday, they had a sample section set up, pictured below, which gave us an idea of what we could do.  It's kind of like an antique mall but much more chic and refined.  Nicole chose her participating boutique owners very carefully so she could create a quality shopping experience.

The sample display was pretty cool.  It made us want to come up with a concept and decorate around that idea, rather than just throw a bunch of stuff into the space.

The Collective is already getting a lot of press, even though it won't open until August of this year, 2012.  Here are links to articles about the co-op.  Once we can get into the building and start creating, we will post more pictures!  I hope you're as excited to see it as we are!
http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/co-op-hopes-to-address-retail-challenges-downtown/article_9fc137c2-ac10-11e1-b22f-0019bb30f31a.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/blog/2012/05/chic-retail-co-op-to-open-at.html?page=all

http://www.stltoday.com/business/columns/consumer-central/a-new-retail-co-op-coming-to-downtown-st-louis/article_b9707378-aa7a-11e1-a135-0019bb30f31a.html#.T8ZvgigFjiI.facebook