Tonight was the opening reception at Rapha's Cycling Club in the East Village in NYC. I swung through earlier in the day to see how they were doing and saw that everyone was frantically putting the finishing touches on the space so I left and came back for the party.
Check out more photos below!
So yeah, I didn't realize it was a private party until I got there. Apologies for those who tried to get in!
A few people came and took advantage of the indoor bike parking.
The store, even though it's only open until September, was really well thought out and planned.
Details everywhere!
One of the things that struck me about the space was the amount of vintage cycling mementos. It's not common for a space to have more things on display than for sale, especially in this neighborhood.
... and it didn't end there.
Along with free beer, there were people manning the coffee shop.
Even Bike Snob was in attendance!
After mingling for two hours, I decided it was time to head home. So I trucked it across to the Williamsburg bridge where even at 9pm, there was still a lot of traffic. I took a ton of photos of the space. To check them out, head on over to my Flickr.
Rapha's Cycling Club opens officially on Saturday, so swing through and check it out!
Rapha NYC
352 Bowery
New York City
Comments
So why is the shop only open until September John??
Posted by: chris | July 1, 2010 11:42 PM
perhaps capitalizing on the new pop-up shop trend??
Posted by: EzPz | July 2, 2010 3:05 AM
Great shot of the Willy B!
Posted by: AlexSins | July 2, 2010 9:26 AM
that`s bike snob?!
at last we see his face.
Posted by: pachius | July 2, 2010 10:49 AM
oh man the snob was outed months ago. when they announced his book and following tour. WSJ was the first to show his face, thought the nytimes spokes blog tried to scoop them.
yeah why is the shop only open till sept? are testing the waters before they settle down here in nyc?
damn guest list. lol.
Posted by: d.patrick | July 2, 2010 1:45 PM
Rapha's smart. Why pay so much rent in the nyc winter months? They know their brick and mortar store is strictly for image in the summer months when their clientele (older dudes with too much money) are really going to actually buy anything. They already have their online shopping base so this pop up is strictly for presence in the months people actually care. Now give me that toy truck Prolly.
Posted by: Lamour | July 3, 2010 7:54 AM
This is off topic but does anyone else find the sign on the taxi a little ironic.
Posted by: JimBo | July 3, 2010 9:36 AM
Sweet... I am the cool guy in the first pic! And no, not the stripclub-signage-weilding-taxi-driver.
Posted by: KyleRadz | July 3, 2010 9:53 AM