This weekend John Varvatos opens his long-awaited store at 315 Bowery, the address formerly belonging to punk-rock cradle CBGB. In addition to all of the designer's lines, the shop will sell vinyl records, along with vintage-seventies hi-fi equipment (for said records), and it even retains many of the space's iconic features. (Happily, this does not include the bathrooms.) "We're not reopening CBGB, and we're not trading off the name," Varvatos says. "When the club closed, the choices were it was either going to become a deli or a Bank of America. This way, it's like keeping a piece of history." Toward that end, CBGB's walls remain as they were, stickered and chockablock with graffiti. There's a new, smaller stage for monthly performances from up-and-coming musicians, too. The designer's also launching a limited-edition specialty line, 315 Bowery, to be carried at the store in the fall. "It's intact," he says. "When you're in there, you feel like you're in a club." Sure, albeit one with cleaner floors.
John Varvatos, 315 Bowery, (212) 358-0315, johnvarvatos.com