Dolls Kill is coming to life in New York City.
The fashion brand, which draws inspiration from party culture, opened a flagship location at 33 Howard Street in Soho. The store, located between Broadway and Crosby Street, includes 10,000 square feet of retail space across three full floors.
The 4,900-square-foot loft building at 33 Howard Street was acquired in tandem with neighboring 35 Howard Street by Javeri Capital in an off-market transaction from a long-term owner who was facing extended vacancy during the pandemic, according to the buyer’s website.
The location is the brand’s second brick-and-mortar store. The company said its East Coast debut is the beginning of a broader international retail expansion.
Dolls Kill also said that while immersive in-person experiences — including casting calls, pop ups and festivals — have always been a part of the brand, some aspects were put on the back burner during the pandemic, forcing the brand to focus on e-commerce.
Brick-and-mortar is a part of the brand’s “post-pandemic revival,” the company said.
“After navigating a pandemic alongside us, our customers are ready to return to ‘real life,’” founder and CEO Bobby Farahi said in a statement. “We believe there’s significant pent-up demand for in-person touchpoints with the brand.”
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Jeremy Aidan from Isaacs and Company represented the tenant.
Dolls Kill’s first store is located in Los Angeles, at 415 North Fairfax Avenue. Like its West Coast counterpart, the New York location will feature an exterior with an interactive art installation.
The store’s selection will be a curated mix of styles representing the subcultures Dolls Kill serves, as well as the cult favorites it carries. The selection will be rotated seasonally.
Retail has been on a path to recovery since the pandemic. The New York metro area’s average retail asking rent in March was 2.9 percent higher than a year earlier, according to Marcus & Millichap. That number, $57.96 per square foot, was projected to hit $58.45 per square foot by the end of the year, the best mark since 2019. The vacancy rate dropped to 3.9 percent in March.
Soho recorded the city’s highest retail leasing velocity last year with over 202,000 square feet leased across 42 transactions.