So

It's been a rough few weeks (not to mention years) here at Deluxa, thus the slow down on the blog. Here are some sad/cute photos in the meantime while we gather and regroup, and just because I feel like it.

Official New Address, Start of Relaunch!

Whew! What a crazy long month, and it's not even the holidays yet. The good news though is that we've secured new location for Deluxa in East Williamsburg off the L at Morgan in the OfficeOps building on Thames Street.

If you're not familiar with the area, it is a bit debatable if this is still "technically" East Williamsburg, or Bushwick, and even some have nicknamed it "Morgantown" for the Morgan stop on the L train. Regardless, I'd describe the area as something like East-Village-meets-Soho-in-the-BK, with soaring industrial buildings, street level murals, great street fashion, and the feeling that something in the air is...happening. I love our area here in Carroll Gardens, but the something in the air here is maybe a bit more staid--not quite happening. There are also lots of new business opening, and it turns out more than a couple friends and acquaintances already call the area home.

In addition to powering down the store here (please come in and help me move what is left! lots of lovelies! at least 50% off almost everything--often more!), I'm starting to rev up our transition to internet based sales. While our final internet trajectory is still being debated (Etsy only? Etsy and direct sales? Direct sales only??? Look at those Three Potato Four people...HMMMMMmmmmm...Oy, and boy would I love to learn Flash and do something like that Supermarket Sarah)--for now, and for at first at least, furniture will be on Craigstlist and Ebay (listings to come), and then a stand alone Etsy stores for clothing and home. I designed/redesigned the store banners for the stores, and have decided the new deluxa design scheme will consist of our original "deluxa" typography logo, and Helvetica Thin, and in black and white as much as possible. Here we go...

Important Deluxa News

After going for a little over a year here in Carroll Gardens, Deluxa will be moving on to greener, more internet friendly pastures. Our last day in store will be sometime between Christmas and New Years. We are hoping in the up coming months to set up a photo studio and furniture show room in East Williamsburg, open by appointment, and will move all of our clothing and housewares sales exclusively online. It is a decision made with both sadness and excitement, as Deluxa enters a new phase.

With closing the store, we are sad to leave our local friends, John and Kirsten of Ilampe, all the kids at Naidre's, Eton Chang and his staff at Eton (who has also left the block for the higher traffic Smith Street area), Angelo and Rocco of General Nightmare, regular customers like Peter, Wendy, Tom, Bo and Kristen, Jen, and a bunch more who's names I forget, but whose faces I don't. I've also got to give a big thanks to our personal friends who have helped and supported us as we started this adventure: Gina and Meghan, John and Kim of Aloft, Lloyd, Ryan, Andrew, Dirk (who is soon to start a vintage and antiques business of his own), Amy of Tiburon, and of course most importantly our family who have been incredibly supportive in every way in getting us here so far.

But as this door closes, a new one will be opening, and for that, we are grateful. Here's looking forward to the future!

PS. COME TO OUR CLEARANCE SALE! TONS O' SCORES!

We're Featured on Design*Sponge!

The supremely awesome Amy Azzarito who covered Deluxa for Apartment Therapy some months ago invited us to participate in one of Design*Sponge's Sneak Peeks! We got to literally and figuratively "pull back the curtain" to share our living space in the store, and show off our "little beasts" (our pet bunnies, Bernina and Belikin). Here's some of the pics from the post; here is the link for the full post, with explanations and descriptions.




In all we are so incredibly flattered and delighted to be a part of Design*Sponge and to get to share our home with such a great community!

Big thanks to Lorie Reilly who also did our website photos for all her help. She took tons of great shots, and of course D*S couldn't use them all, so don't be surprised if the strays pop up on the blog sometime soon!

Deluxa's One Year Anniversary Celebration

It is of course, still a bit away, but I wanted to get the word out now for Deluxa's first anniversary party. Champagne cocktails, and maybe cupcakes too, open to everyone from 12-7, then a few hours with some close friends. Details below:



Click to view larger...

Luxa, Dead Leaf Echo, and Mark Van Hoen Playing MonkeyTown August 14th

Luxa is playing a show next Friday with Mark Van Hoen and Dead Leaf Echo at MonkeyTown in Williamsburg.

Mark Van Hoen. OMG. Mark Van Hoen. OMG. Check out this new write up in Jezebel.

OMG/MVH aside, I personally am really excited to play this show because we're going to be playing some new songs that I think are our best yet, and we're going to be reinstating our long-neglected visuals.

If you haven't gotten a chance to check out MonkeyTown yet, it is fantastic for visuals and for any kind of intimate performace. All the aucience seating is on low banquette style cushions while the performance goes on in the middle of the room. All four walls have visuals projected on them, making for a very enveloping/psychadelic experience (but in a good way!).


I've seen Dead Leaf Echo--who we carry in Deluxa, and with whom we are sharing this bill--play there once before, and have to report that it was quite a lovely and mesmerizing experience. Kudos to LG for the great vintage edgy (read: kinky) footage and beautiful ambient set. Here's hoping he'll have an experience for us this time just as entrancing...

PS. the poster image was taken from a vintage magazine in store--pretty fantastic pie, right?

Announcing Ilampe Designs at Deluxa

As longtime Deluxa favorites, I am so thrilled to get to share Ilampe's special one of a kind found object lamp constructions now available in the store. John and Kirsten's Ilampe designs are so beautifully executed mash-ups of hardware parts, doo-dads, thingies, and a serious dose of industrial elegance that I hardly can part with them in the store myself. There are only 3 designs in stock at the moment, but we're hoping to carry a few more, and to always have a few on hand.

Chemical Brothers. Pair of lamps with integrated Bunsen burner components. Perfect for bookshelves or bedside tables. $300, pair.

"Twisty" Fully bendable gooseneck desk task light. $120










"Schmidt". Table lamp with integrated Schmidt metal plate, $175.

All the lamp parts are brand new. All bulbs have been chosen for their special incandescence and light spaces beautifully. While they are made with specialty bulbs, they are widely available at lighting stores. Believe me, the special trip is totally worth it--one thing I have to credit Ilampe's John and Kirsten with, is teaching appreciate the subtly of good lighting, especially when it comes from a well designed lamp.

Check out Ilampe's website here. Also note that they do take commissions!

Brooklyn Flea Appearance Today by Deluxa Cancelled

Sorry to report, Deluxa will not be debuting at the Brooklyn Flea today due to rain (how does the forecast go from scattered storms at 1pm and 4pm to friggin' rain all day from the time I went to sleep at 2:00 to the time I got up at 6:30?).

I'm pretty sure the weather has it out for us this summer, and it's doing a damn fine job.

MMNY MOVED TO THE BELL HOUSE

DUE TO STUPID RAIN, MMNY IS MOVED TO THE BELL HOUSE.

11am Her Vanished Grace

1155am By Night With Spear

1245pm Telltale

130 Ghost in the water

215pm Elika

3pm soundpool

4pm Lawrence Chandler

12pm Meghan Halle (front lounge)

1pm Rebecca Pronsky (front Lounge)

2pm Sharon van Etten(front Lounge)

but it will still be cool. For reals.

Goodwill in the NYT

An interesting article today was published in the New York Times about Goodwill aligning itself to be more label and marketing savy to that dreadfully labeled demographic that I hate to even print here...the...recessionista.

I have mixed feelings about the reorganization of some Goodwills--while I do belive in people buying quality used goods at affordible prices, I'm going to miss scoring hand sewn 60's dresses and Lacoste sweaters for $2.

The full article here.

P.S. Honey, if you don't buy that Marc Jacobs dress above, I will.

New CDs in Store: Chat Blanc Records

Quebec based Chat Blanc Records puts out beautiful short run 3" CDs: each envelope lovingly hand cut, each cover hand stitched--and the best part about these gems, all of their releases feature some damn good music. Of the 8 releases we're currently carrying, I can honestly say they are all fantastic. Here's a list of the new artists:

Absent Without Leave
Biltmore Dive
Boreal
The Chat Blanc Orchestra
General Bearing & Fashion Friends
Golf
The Great Mundane
Jatun
Le Chat Blanc Orchestra
Meets Guitar
Millimetrik
Nakurmik
Okokok
Port-Royal
Raycord
Stafrænn Hákon
Steiber Sound
Voila
Yellow6

Like I said, they are all fantastic, but I've been particularly in love with Golf's Tef Tef, and particularly the song below--and while this song is a great dream pop anthem if ever there was one, their range on the EP is actually quite broad from more somber instrumental electronics to bright and folksy, which makes me like this song all the more...

Golf Day by Day.mp3

All the new music has also been uploaded to our listening station so you can try before you buy. You can also check out our full music selection here.

UPDATED 6/20 Official Make Music New York Line Up Announced!

UPDATED 6/20

DUE TO STUPID RAIN, MMNY IS MOVED TO THE BELL HOUSE.

11am Her Vanished Grace

1155am By Night With Spear

1245pm Telltale

130 Ghost in the water

215pm Elika

3pm soundpool

4pm Lawrence Chandler

12pm Meghan Halle (front lounge)

1pm Rebecca Pronsky (front Lounge)

2pm Sharon van Etten(front Lounge)

We are so excited!

Lawrence Chandler (of Bowery Electric)
Luxa
Sharon Van Etten
Soundpool
Elika
Rebecca Pronsky
Ghost in the Water
Telltale
By Night With Spear
Her Vanished Grace
Meghan Halle

and Djs:
Mark Van Hoen of Seefeel and Locust
LG of Dead Leaf Echo
The Invisible Kid
Rich Bennett
DJ Stephan C of Telltale

I'm going to try and do posts on everyone on the bill before the show, but you can check out where I've already blogged about the profoundly talented Sharon Van Etten here, and the excellent Self Storage Recordings artist By Night With Spear here as well as the not-to-be-missed Dead Leaf Echo. I've also featured a video of Locust, one of Mark Van Hoen's many projects, which is highly recommended.

So mark your calendars! Sunday, June 21st, the first day of summer! Free music! Block party! Amazing bands! Good eats in the neighborhood--Eton on the block just won TONY's "Best New Dumpling" award and they serve amazing Hawaiian shave ice.

It's going to be awesome.

Luxa Going on Tour

The band is going on tour this week: Thursday, DC; Friday Philadelphia; Saturday Oxford, PA; and Sunday at Fontanas here in good ole NYC (Easter Sunday!). Deluxa of course will still be open though!



In other news, DiskUnion in Japan just placed a wholesale order for all the Self Storage Recordings titles, so if you're on that side of the world, check out our new releases there in the upcoming weeks...

Brooklyn Now Spring Summer 2009 Out Now

The new Spring/Summer edition of the latest Brooklyn Now guide came out today with deluxa included.









They're great resources for exploring neighborhoods, and their slap happy neighborhood umbrella names are always fun. "Willpoint", har har.

Hidden Shoal Recordings CDs New in Stock

Cam Merton over at Hidden Shoal Recordings not only on top of being a super nice guy runs a super cool label. We've got a small selection in stock right now and hope to expand in the future, as their whole catalog is worth checking out. Our current new favorites that we've got in stock are Hotels, Fall Electric, Wes Willenbring, and My Majestic Star. We've also had longtime loves Monocle and Rich Bennett for a while


You can preview all of HSR's artist on their gorgeous website that's beautifully up to date.

Also, if you haven't been to Deluxa in a while, we've hooked up a set of nice headphones and an MP3 player for our own little listening station. Its the best music you've never heard, promise...links to all artists in stock here and many more to come in the coming months!

Back on Facebook!

So we're back on Facebook with a new spiffy right and proper business profile. Become a fan here!

April Window and Six Month Birthday!

I know its not April for a few more hours, but just thought I'd share the April store window with the pic that Amy from Apartment Therapy took (see full post below).

And, it is Deluxa's six month birthday tomorrow. Its been a labor of literal blood, sweat, tears, sparks, paint, more sweat, some cussing, some intense learning curves, some great laughs, some great new friends, and some immense satisfaction in being my own boss--and I must admit, a real sense of overall joy with how the past six months have unfolded, and a real sense of excitement for Deluxa's (and my) future.

Thanks to everyone who's help me get this far--especially my incredibly supportive family, the unending assistance and sacrifices of Andy, my fantastic friends, my adorable regular customers, my unbelievably lovely local community. --Kristen

(Notebook doodle, when it was just a sprout of an idea, sometime last August, a million years ago.)

Hey Neighbors!

I'm not sure if anyone living on Sackett between Henry and Hicks reads this blog, but if you do, come on by and let me know if you'd like to sign my form for the 2009 Make Music New York Festival! There is quite a bit of bureaucratic process to go through (signatures, money orders, permits, SASEs, SAT scores, etc.) , but I'm crossing my fingers that we are going to have one kick ass Sunday afternoon on the first day of summer, June 21st. We're working on a band line up with Self Storage Recordings and Loveless Music Group that should be announced in the coming weeks!

Deluxa's New Website is Live!

I can hardly believe it it's been so much work, but at long last--it's here!

Please go to deluxanyc.com and check out the site. I'll love you forever. Promise!

Sneak Peek at Website

Getting so close I can taste it! Mark Robinson is doing a fantastic job...just a few more tweaks, a couple more copy revisions, a bit more shuffling, but soon soon soon!

Here's a sneak peek!