Hold the phone. Friends NYC is TEN! Double digits, bb!
There’s something that happens when one turns over a new decade. There’s at once a feeling of accomplishment and deep reflection. So much has happened over these 10 years in Bushwick, but our lifeblood has been the support we’ve gotten from our customers. Our community. Our FRIENDS! Cheers to you! From moment we popped the first bottle of champagne in a burst of raw optimism, through all the years of learning and growing and sweating and bleeding and laughing and loving, we’ve never stopped believing in the power of friendship to get us through anything.
So, here we are to give you the how it started/how it’s going, to the tune of “Thank You For Being a Friend” ringing extra hard now (RIP to the real one, Betty White).
Ten years ago, beebee besties Mary Meyer and Emma Kadar-Penner (just LOOK at them!) opened Friends Vintage. The space on Bogart Street was half the size it is now. The neighborhood was a magnet for artists and edgy entrepreneurs. People built out loft spaces and warehouses and made magic happen off the Morgan L Stop. Mary and Emma made a best friend pact to create a space that sold killer vintage and other cute bits that no one else had in the neighborhood, and also to be a welcoming community spot.
Friends before friends. Look at that raw space!
Throughout the years perhaps you caught a Yaks show or a shadow puppet performance or a holiday shopping event showcasing local makers. You may have had your first sip of natural wine at one of our gatherings, of which Mary and Emma share a passion. Maybe you found the perfect gift for your mother, your lover, your bestie. Maybe you got a tattoo or had your portrait drawn or your tarot cards read or won a leather bondage bra in a raffle (oh, that last one was just me, Bones). Maybe you’ve been a part of our book club or our virtual drag shows. Or maybe you’ve just popped in to say hey to one of our awesome employees and then left with something you didn’t know you needed. So much has gone down! Friends is a community, not just a store.
But as a store, we’ve grown! Oh, how we’ve grown. We are now 2200 square feet of space with hundreds of products. We still carry vintage (always a soft spot for the uniqueness and sustainability) but we also carry gifts and homewares and jewelry and accessories and health + wellness products and contemporary clothing, sourced from local artists and tradeshows all over the country and world. Our core mission and values have not changed though. We built this store on the foundations of love, respect and FUN. And we love looking cute while we take on the world with our best friends at our sides.
We are TEN! Welcome to prepubescence with us. Officially Pre-Teen. The hormones are raging and we are falling in love all over again. Your support has meant everything to us. Finding true BFFs out there is not always easy, and we know we’re lucky to have you in our lives making more magic and memories on Bogart and on the world wide web. Thank you for ten years of love! Raise your glass (of natural wine) or your smokey treat in celebration of what we’ve been through together and all the future has in store.
Thank you thank you thank you thank you.
