Located at 265 Canal Street, Canal Street Market was born out of real estate developer Philip Chong’s desire to fill a gap he saw in the types of retail-facing concepts that were available on the busy thoroughfare.
“Canal Street’s retail has historically been positioned to serve the tens of thousands of tourists that walk the street every day,” said Chong. “Canal Street Market is a destination where both locals & tourists alike can find convenient alternatives to traditional restaurants and retail outlets in a space that feels uniquely Downtown New York.”
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The market is characterized by a fresh, minimalist aesthetic that makes use of the space’s pre-existing brick walls, wooden floors and soaring pillars. The vendors in the space, which include Fox Fodder Flowers, Jack Rudy Cocktail Company, Leibal Homewares, Mast Brothers Chocolate, Il Buco Vita Italian Wares, and Keap Candles and Jill Lindsey, were selected with an emphasis on local and artisan-made goods.
Canal Street Market Creative Director Dasha Faires, who curated the space’s vendors, told us, “I knew that I wanted to bring something to the neighborhood that wasn’t here before. I always felt like this particular spot where Chinatown meets SoHo and TriBeCa was largely underserved. There weren’t many places to buy artisan-made or curated environments. So I started to put together a list of brands of that I was familiar with and starting to do a lot of research, and what was really cool was that the vendors I found were all buying into and believing in an idea that didn’t even exist yet. That’s why I think everyone here is really special because they really bought into this dreamm and vision that we were basically just describing with no pictures, nothing else to say except to tell the story of what we wanted the space to be.”
Shoppers looking to take a break from perusing can head to the greenery-lined indoor garden at the back of the market.
NYC-based artist Stef Halmos is currently occupying the market’s rotating artist-in-residence “fishbowl” room. Drop by to see Halmos making her popular plaster and rope “Squishes” live in the space.
A Multi-Vendor Eatery serving up fare from Boba guys, freshandco, Davey’s Ice Cream, Dessert Lab, Two Tablespoons, Joy Luck Dim Sum and Alidoro is expected to launch in January 2017, but a coffee shop at the front of the market curated by Office Magazine is already open.
Canal Street Market will be open 7 days a week from 11:00AM – 8:00PM starting today.
Photos: Yuka Yoneda for Inhabitat
