We are
Organization: Chimi
Date Opened: October 2024
Address: 110 Grand Street
Hours of Operation: Monday-Saturday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. | Sunday: 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.
Last fall, Swedish eyewear brand Chimi entered the U.S. market just off SoHo Broadway corridor on Grand Street. As noted by Vogue, Chimi is one of a number of Nordic brands to set up shop in SoHo, including Danish brand Ecco which opened a store around the corner in 2023.
As reported by Vogue, “founded in Stockholm in 2016, Chimi is the brainchild of Charlie Lindström andcofounder Daniel Djurdjevic. The son of architects on his father’s side and designers onhis mother’s, he studied microeconomics at his parents’ bidding, and has applied his math skills to entrepreneurship. In the store, Chimi’s always-available core collection is organized according to X and Y axes with styles arranged in rows by color options.” The store’s interior design incorporates “curving parabolas that ‘were obviously a bit inspired by how we work with balance from the eyewear,’ Lindström noted. There’s a U-shaped wall, an undulating seating area, C-shaped stools, and an overhead light with rounded edges that looks a bit like an eyeglass lens. A circular table and a cone-shaped column . . . are made of silicon in a pinkish color you might find in a pick-and-mix gummy candy mix. As decorative as they are functional, these sort of Memphis touches offer a twist on more traditional Scandi minimalism.”
Intrigued? Be sure to stop in to the space at 110 Grand Street to experience the brand’s product and retail design approach. The Initiative is pleased to welcome Chimi to SoHo; a continuation of a longtime trend of global retail brands choosing the SoHo Broadway district as key to their entry strategy into the US market.
