Monday, September 24, 2012

Selling modernism: Era Atomica

Era Atomica, located at 1726 E. Passyunk Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the labor of love of one of our own blogger friends, Stacey of Mid-Century in Montgomery County. She opened the store just a little over a year ago, and it has been so successful that she's already thinking about opening a second location.

Stacey describes the store's current location, as well as the store's atmosphere, like this:  

The neighborhood is perfect for this type of store, the businesses have been super nice, helpful and excited over what we're selling.  The residents are a mix of young families, young hipsters, and gay couples with (clearly) great taste. Some people come in and just pull up a (Heywood Wakefield) chair and talk with us while we work about... well ANYTHING. 

When talking with Stacey via email recently, she told me that Era Atomica has established a great clientele niche, made up of new as well as many repeat customers, that is constantly growing as a result of the influx of people moving to the Philadelphia area, which I was surprised to learn is exceeded only by the number of people moving into Brooklyn and Portland.

The store has been especially busy lately selling to college students moving in and getting settled in their own places. Stacey says they have great taste and are very receptive to design ideas, so it's fun to help them furnish their homes.

Era Atomica will be participating in Design Philadelphia 2012 by offering a hands-on upholstery demonstration on Wednesday, October 17 from 6:00-7:00 p.m. If you're in the area, I hope you'll stop in and say hi, and if you're not, I know you'll enjoy this look through the store.



















22 comments:

  1. Oooo...I love that Pyrex/Glasbake display! Beautiful shop.

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    1. I figured all you kitchen glass lovers would enjoy that photo! :)

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  2. Oh wow that place looks amazing! I see a roadtrip in my future.

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  3. Wow! Why can't one of those open in my neighborhood?

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    1. As much as you love mid-century things, you ought to quit your day job and open a store in your neighborhood! You'd have a ball.

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  4. Gotta love someone who has the courage and great taste to start a new MCM business. Great looking place!

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    1. That's right! It takes a good bit of moxie, doesn't it? :)

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  5. I echo 1950s Atomic Ranch... why don't we have a shop like this around here?
    The white tulip dining set is the bomb!

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    1. I love that orange upholstery too. And I love the great displays in the store windows...and that cute little yellow dinette set...and...and...

      But one of the things I love most is the store's sign with that old school phone number!

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    1. I think the rug is beautiful too. Stacey's done a fabulous job with the store, hasn't she?

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  7. Nice store. I get to Philadelphia from time to time. I like the Corningware display. And of course that vanity. **sigh**

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    1. If you ever make it to the store, tell them hello for me!

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  8. Oh, great store! Looks like they have really cool stuff! If I ever get to Philly....

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  9. A musing...about the title to this day's blog. Is it really selling modernism or selling mid century modernism? Don't get me wrong. I love MCM. It is really the style that will fit in my 1960's ranch house because the furniture is made to scale and does not overpower the small space. But I hate to think that I will have to wait 50 more years (by which time I probably will no longer be around) to be able to acquire today's living modernist designers' work.

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    1. This series of posts will include stores that sell both vintage modern and pieces created by designers today with a modernist aesthetic. Interestingly, I'm finding more and more modern furniture that is scaled to work well in mid-century homes. We carry three lines of modern furniture in our store...Gus Modern, Bend and Ralph Rapson. All are scaled like the vintage modern pieces we have.

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  10. What a fabulous store!!! I can see why it has been so popular. I love it when stores have the wares set up in 'room' layouts. The tulip chair setting is amazing!!x

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    1. I'm a real fan of room layouts too. I think it gives customers a much better idea of how things are going to look in their homes.

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  11. Ooohh that store looks like such a great place.
    We don't have anything that cool in our town, that's why I have to take roadtrips! (To visit cool stores that are like this one.)

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