West Elm launches community-driven West Elm Market

Casual Living Staff -- Casual Living, 10/23/2012 10:00:51 AM

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Home furnishings retailer West Elm has announced the launch of West Elm Market, a new venture that offers customers a "total home toolkit" in four key categories: Kitchen, Garden, Care & Repair and Personal Care.

The first store, West Elm Market Brooklyn, will open Oct. 25 and include a café and common area for community workshops.

Eight West Elm Market shop-in-shops will open in November in West Elm stores in Costa Mesa, Dallas, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Nashville, New York City, Seattle and Toronto. The collection launched on westelm.com today.

West Elm Market focuses on functional design, local production and entrepreneurship.

"We were inspired by the common sense shopkeeping of the classic general store to develop a collection of genuine and useful household goods that make even the most practical chore a little more enjoyable," said Jim Brett, president of West Elm.

The collection includes:

• Live plants, herbs, seeds and Brooklyn Blend potting soil from Groundworks Gardens. The company's founders met at The Horticultural Society of New York and today work with the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
• West Elm-designed brooms and dusters manufactured by New York City Industries for the Blind.
• Brooklyn-based Common Good's 100% biodegradable and plant-based cleaning products with a West Elm signature sage scent.
• Sam's Natural handcrafted candles, soaps and lotions, using ingredients purchased solely from U.S. suppliers.
• Kitchen tools, cookware and an exclusive line of modern enameled cast-iron Dutch ovens and pans.
• A 2.5 quart saucepan from Brooklyn Coppersmiths, where every pot is the work of one coppersmith, one tinsmith and one ironsmith.
• Artisan pantry products chosen to represent the diverse food sheds of the country, with regional collections and themed assortments including "We're from Brooklyn," "Southern Comfort," "Helpful Houseguests" and "Get in the Spirit."

Located in Brooklyn's D.U.M.B.O. neighborhood, the first West Elm Market store will feature a café in collaboration with Philadelphia-based neo-traditional coffee roasters La Colombe Torrefaction and a demonstration kitchen.

Events and classes created by West Elm in partnership with Skillshare will be held at a community table in the center of the store.

"We chose La Colombe and Skillshare not just because we love their coffee and their classes," said Brett, "but because their initiatives are strongly connected to our own beliefs about the importance of community."

West Elm Market Brooklyn will be located at 50 Washington St. in the same building as the brand's home office and first décor store.

"We wanted our first West Elm Market location to be in our own backyard," Brett said. "The building is rich with history, and we are maintaining the original industrial qualities of the space. We are proud to open our first West Elm Market store in a community we call home."