NEW NEIGHBOR | Hello Candystore
Next door to OTD, Charles Phan’s latest gastronomical phenon, at 2226 Bush is a new women’s clothing collective called Hello by Candystore Collective. It’s owned by Jennifer Jones, who first got hooked on the ’hood while operating a holiday pop-up store for a few weeks last December in the space at 1928 Fillmore left vacant by the Aveda salon.
“It was immediately apparent that the neighborhood was welcoming,” she says. “And my current landlord came in and loved the store and was so supportive. I feel like it was neighborhood magic that we ended up here.”
Jones, who owns another Candystore boutique on 16th Street in the Mission, says she’s stocked her new store with indie and up-and-comer labels in a wide range of price points. All the designers must meet her litmus test of being creative — and companionable, since she prides herself on finding and cultivating relationships with all of them.
Jones selects mostly local designers, including top of the line hand-dyed silk items under the Stars + Ravens label, whose creator, San Franciscan Sarah Borruso, will soon be making custom-order pieces for Hello’s customers.
“You go into restaurants and they brag that the lettuce came from a local farmer and the cheese came from a local cheesemaker,” says Jones. “And that’s the phil-osophy behind this clothing store, too.”
Beyond clothing, the store also offers a small selection of jewelry, gift items, accessories — and cards, “because I’m kind of a paper freak,” admits Jones, who has a background in graphic design and years of design experience with Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn.
The space, with its concrete floors, stark white walls and minimal track lighting, has a raw feel and is mostly unadorned — with the exception of a floor-to-ceiling wooden installation along one wall that Christopher Bettig, an Los Angeles artist and friend of Jones, built onsite.
In the coming weeks, Jones plans to open a gallery space in the back part of the store featuring “affordable art” by local artists.
“Being next to OTD is great,” says Jones, who cops to an appreciation of both its spring rolls and its diners who stop to shop. “People are rediscovering this little stretch of Bush off Fillmore. And honestly, the food in this neighborhood is awesome,” especially, she says, Fraiche yogurt around the corner on Fillmore.
Filed under: Retail Report