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New York City has more stores than anyone could physically tackle, but somehow we always keep returning to the usual suspects. To break out of the rut, we've asked some local shopping and fashion gurus to provide their hidden retail gems—those unique stores around our fantastic city that we might not all know about. Cue the Beatles: We're about to get a little help from our friends.
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Image via Brooklyn Bride
Phoebe Sung and Peter Buer started their accessory line Cold Picnic as a way to carry on the traditions of hand-crafting and storytelling through symbols. What does that mean? Well, they made their spring 2011 collection entirely out of vintage chains and scrap leather that they discovered at a local bird-toy factory. When scrap materials won't work as household decorations, they head over to Dumbo's Emily Thompson Flowers to spruce up their space. Says Peter:
Emily Thompson Flowers is a tiny flower shop hidden in a semi-industrial pocket of Dumbo. It actually looks like someone's cool home from the outside, perhaps an eccentric home, owned by an aristocratic hermit in the middle of the woods. The only indication it's a shop is the little slate chalkboard on the door with Emily's name written on it.
Adds Phoebe:
It's a mix of storefront/studio/office, so aside from terrariums and floral arrangements made in house, there are also quirky little glass displays with beetles, and gorgeous, wild sculptures made by Emily herself. The atmosphere is sort of sumptuous and feral at the same time. There's all this beautiful artwork in there, and then the stems of wild flowers scattered all over the floor.· Emily Thompson Flowers [Official Site]
· All Shopping Confidential Posts [Racked NY]