Collective Saints and Sinners Party

I recently posted about setting up at the new co-op in downtown St. Louis called the Collective.  If you haven't read it yet, here it is.  We're really excited about being in a space with other creative people and can't wait to see it grow!

They have recently gotten their website going too.  Check it out!

http://www.collectivemx.com/

 

Since we are one of the vendors, we were invited to a Saints and Sinners costume party to celebrate the opening.  My mom and I were joined by 2 of our employees, Emily and Katie.  Here they are below.  Katie wore a really fun red flapper dress!

 

This is my mom in our space.  She had a mask to go with her furry vest but it was hard to keep on with her glasses.  Sorry for the dark pictures.  It was pretty dark in there because they were doing an awesome light show.

There were also cupcakes from The Cup, wine from Copia, and pizza from Pi.  Basically my personal heaven..

 

This is me with Brian Simpson, owner of East + West in Kirkwood.  He also has a space in the Collective.  He makes a pretty good zombie I think. 

I waited too long to plan my costume so I just had to settle for the tried and true witch hat.  It's basically the go-to costume for the person without a costume.

This is all of us in the space.  I wish the picture had turned out better!  Darnit! 

See the lights on the wall?  It says MX below because the Collective is a part of the Mercantile Exchange.  It's basically a series of buildings with shops and dining including Pi, the Blues Museum, the Collective and the new movie theater.  I think it's going to be so amazing for the downtown area. 

We had a great time at the party and it made us even more excited about the Collective.

 

The Collective opened today so you've gotta check it out!  Washington Avenue has really grown and I think you'll be surprised if you haven't been downtown in a while.  Let us know what you think when you visit and be sure to tell them The White Rabbit sent you!

Our setup for the Collective in downtown St. Louis

 

 

Hi guys, it's Lindsay here. We just finished setting up our space in the cool new Collective downtown and I wanted to share the pictures and info. It's a store full of local boutiques that was dreamed up by Nicole Benoist.  It's really a fun concept.  Here is a list of the boutiques that are in the Collective:
Adam Foster
Alternative Apparel
Beltshazzar
Byrd Style Lounge
Genovese Jewelers
Ivy Hill
Juxtapose
Kate Pollman
Oh Lolli Lolli
Q Boutique
Retta le Ritz
Roots
STL Style
twigs & MOSS
Wai Ming
White Rabbit
Women’s Closet Exchange
Phoenix Rising
City Sprouts

Located in the Mercantile Exchange district on Washington Avenue in St. Louis, it's a great spot to attract visitors, tourists, and local sports fans and residents.  I (Lindsay) recently moved downtown so I can walk to the space and make sure it looks good.  I'll be changing the displays frequently to keep it fresh.  Here's the awning:

Below is a picture of the space before anyone had moved in.

 

We checked in on Friday and this is what our space looked like.  It's just a blank wall with 2 partitions on either side.  We love a blank canvas!  What a fun challenge!

 

 

I have kind of taken over as the project manager for the space since I live a few blocks away and I have friends that live downtown.  I'm hoping that I can bring in goodies that some of the residents in the lofts will love.  We bought a little differently than we do for our main location because I think the customers will be a little different.  I think it will be tourists and young residents.  There is a lot more color in this display than our customers are used to from us!

 

 We've got candles, jewelry, these metal clocks, and lamps in the space.  Susan from Knollwood Lane made onesies that say "made in St. Louis" and totes with the Arch on them.

The french cow head is my favorite part.

These necklaces have vintage maps of St. Louis on them.  We sell them in our Brentwood store too and they have been a huge hit.  I displayed them in an old suitcase.

Here is my mom and I in our space.

After setting up, we walked next door to Pi and had lunch.  It was so fun and we cannot wait for you guys to see everything.  You can see pictures of other booths on their facebook page.  It opens in a few days so get ready!  Let us know what you think when you visit!

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