avels with her romantic partner Rasmus Johansson. Fast forward two years, and her Instagram following had leapt to 100,000 as users embraced the lifestyle aesthetic they wanted to emulate. It led to the pair launching a DTC site in 2019, offering nine apparel SKUs centred on everyday closet staples. Today, Djerf Avenue reportedly generates $36 million in annual sales and has expanded into new categories such as home goods, skin and hair care. Inside Retail spoke with Djerf about opening the New York flagship at 25 Bond Street in the heart of Manhattan’s NoHo neighbourhood, catering to customers’ desires and building a brand through community. Opening Djerf Avenue’s flagship store next to Goop and Jcrew For Djerf, opening the first store in the US rather than her home country of Sweden was an obvious choice. American shoppers account for more than half of the brand’s business. “The US is our biggest market, and it basically has been since the start,” said Djerf. “Right away we knew that when it came to where to launch in the US, New York was the given place from the get-go. Simply because we’ve had so many beautiful relationships formed here and hosted so many special events. “We worked with pop-ups to understand the customer, see the kind of traction we would get and test the market. The ones we hosted in New York went very well and showed great results. So New York felt like a very intentional and given place to start our retail journey.” The team was equally deliberate about choosing the store’s location. The store sits on a cobblestone street, between Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop storefront and Gigi Hadid’s Guest in Residence flagship, just around the corner from a Jcrew specialty store. Djerf said Bond Street attracts shoppers seeking a specific brand or product, while still feeling welcoming. “When we saw the space, right away we fell in love with the high ceilings and big windows,” she said. “When you walk down the street and see that our store has these really big windows that you could see right into, it makes you feel more welcome to come in. But also being so close to up-and-coming brands, like Goop and Guest in Residence, whose audiences overlap with ours, and legacy brands like Jcrew, which has become such a household name and has been around for so many years, is so exciting.” Djerf and Leap, a New York-based retail platform, prioritised a cosy, welcoming atmosphere. Scandinavian design elements also influenced the store’s design. Warm brown wooden shelves and vintage design shoes from Djerf’s own closet help create the feeling of shopping in a cosy, aesthetic closet. She wanted customers to feel comfortable asking store associates questions or trying on items straight off the displays. “Our first store is meant to be so much more than just a store. It’s meant to be a home for the brand and a home for our returning and new customers as well. New York is such a busy city, and it has such a pulse. So I want people to come into our store and kind of feel their shoulders drop down, like they can breathe out and they have that moment to enjoy themselves.” Over the next year, the team will use customer feedback and shopping data to guide product development and decide where to open its next permanent store. “I really wanted to make sure that we were tapping into the world of Djerf Avenue and not just putting up racks and hanging the clothing,” she said. Further reading: When does influencer hype become a lasting business?