EXCLUSIVE: Streetwear Brand Market Is Opening Its First Retail Store

Los Angeles-based streetwear brand Market is making a major expansion into retail this year.

The eight-year-old fashion label founded by Mike Cherman is opening two storefronts — the first a six-month-long pop-up in New York City on Saturday and the second, its first permanent store, in Los Angeles slated to open in September. 

The retail expansions come after Market hired its first chief executive officer, Vinod Kasturi, last year. Kasturi most recently served as the Americas CEO at Kitsuné, where he spearheaded the brand’s retail growth. The executive worked at Kitsuné for nearly a decade before coming to Market. 

“It’s a huge opportunity for us to physically manifest what Market is in an immersive shopping experience,” Kasturi said about the brand’s retail expansion. “Mike and I talk a lot about how as consumers ourselves we often don’t find ourselves waking up on a Saturday morning being like, ‘I need to go shop this monobrand’ or ‘I need to go to this store to pick up a pair of jeans.’ But beyond that, we have been focused on how do we make it a little bit more of a multibrand experience.” 

Both stores will serve as a multibrand retail outpost, with the New York location carrying lines such as Only NY, Lqqk Studio, All Caps Studios, Father Figure, Fish and Thrift and others. In addition, both units are anchored in interactive and immersive experiences. The New York store, which is located at the intersection of Broadway and Canal Street, takes multiple inspirations, including from high-end grocery stores like the now-defunct Dean & DeLuca, as well as from the outdoors. According to Cherman, the store is designed to resemble a log cabin and includes fixtures like rock walls, a waterfall and a fishing pond. 

“We’re trying to do something that’s ultimately a destination,” he said. “It’s something fun that people are going to be like, ‘What is that? What’s happening here?’ That’s the big thing because nowadays I find myself as a consumer not wanting to just go to a store if I can buy it online and I think naturally, ‘What is the reason I’m coming out?’” 

Cherman explained Market wanted to lean into experiential retail after seeing similar interactive experiences at retail stores in Asia. He also stated he wanted to get away from the transactional nature that’s customary at U.S. stores and offer customers a way to immerse themselves in the brand. 

The Los Angeles store, which will be located on La Brea Avenue, is designed to resemble the experience of a Japanese convenience store. Market’s offices are also being relocated to the storefront location.

Additionally this fall, Market is releasing its collaboration with Malbon Golf in September, offering apparel and accessories. Cherman stated the hero product of the collection is the collaborative “golf ball smiley basketball,” which leverages Market’s signature smiley face motif. 

“It’s how we can bring more of a lifestyle fun side to the sport itself, which is obviously happening, but it’s always just trying to rock it to its core and have some fun with it,” Cherman said about the collaboration. “Everything in that sport is still naturally going to be very country club and for us, we want to try to bring a little bit of fun energy to that.”       

Collaborations have been a key component of Market’s operations since its launch. The brand has teamed with brands across industries and with influential figures, such as the Grateful Dead, Pink Panther, Reebok, the NBA and many others. 

“Ultimately, we’ve continued to be that brand that pushes the questions of what’s possible in streetwear and make products that naturally make us smile,” Cherman said about how the brand has maintained its resonance. “You look at a lot of brands and there’s a very specific niche that they’re for. We like to jump into different worlds and add our own nostalgia to things, whether it’s partners like the Grateful Dead or My Chemical Romance, to Mike Tyson and Dennis Rodman. There’s a good spectrum of things there that touch a lot of different venn diagrams of humans, but ultimately when you cross them over you have a lot of fun shaking that up.” 

Cherman and Kasturi explained Market doesn’t have any additional retail locations planned beyond the New York and Los Angeles stores, but is committed to hosting other unique, experiential pop-ups around the world and strengthening Market’s distribution network, which includes retailers such as Nordstrom and Selfridges.  

“It’s maintaining that spirit of how do we stay accessible, how do we stay unpretentious, how do we really be comfortable with who we are and give a piece of streetwear to the broader community,” Kasturi said. “That’s a key part of how we’re pushing forward.”