Approximately 300 of New York’s most stylish waited for hours in Soho on Saturday morning to enter the first-ever brick-and-mortar store for Telfar, the Beyoncé-beloved brand with a behemoth cult following.
The line, which snaked down Broadway and spilled into the alley, began to form hours ahead of the 11 a.m. ribbon-cutting as throngs of well-dressed fans eagerly awaited a rare chance to get their hands on one of Telfar’s coveted bags, nicknamed the “Bushwick Birkin.”
Janya Conyers, a 14-year-old New Yorker, arrived at 8 a.m., and was the first customer to make a purchase once she finally arrived inside.
The fashion-minded teen even got a chance to meet designer Telfar Clemens himself.
Meanwhile, Queens native Skai Karim, 20, was the fifth person from the front of the line, purchasing a black shopper from the bag bar on Saturday.
“Why not experience the first time going to the grand opening of the first flagship store? That’s a memory to be created,” Karim, a Fashion Institute of Technology student and content creator, told The Post.
Being at the grand opening, she said, was imperative “if you’re a big fan.”
She further called Clemens an “icon.”
Inside the sleek flagship, spanning 10,000 square-feet, the front door opens to a news desk followed by racks of apparel suspended from the ceiling and a dazzling bag bar running the length of the store.
Customers were handed “bag menus” or asked to scan QR codes to view the purse offerings and make their pick at the bar, which was stocked with every purse ever produced by Telfar.
“It screams New York,” Karim said of the store’s layout. “It screams Telfar.”
After operating as an online-only retailer for nearly two decades, the permanent location at 408 Broadway marks a new chapter for the buzzy brand, offering New Yorkers the opportunity to experience the garments or snag a “T”-embossed tote without waiting for one of the highly anticipated drops online.
“The store tells the whole story,” designer Telfar Clemens told The Post ahead of the opening. “It’s not just bags — it’s a cultural phenomenon and it’s a total look — 20 years in the making.”
After the brand’s previous pop-ups were mobbed by overly zealous fans in years past, this time around, Clemens required RSVP for entry. This, he said, was going to be “different.”
“This is our flagship store in NYC — we want to spread that energy over the other 365 days of the year,” said Clemens, who has been building an atelier in order to produce “full 360 collections” and do so “100% independently.”
“That’s why the store is so central — you are never going to understand Telfar by walking into an existing store.”
Additional reporting by Robert Miller.
