Ask a Shop Clerk: Steven Alan

Photo: Victor Prado/New York Magazine

After nearly twenty years running clothing boutiques, why open a home store?
We were starting to carry, like, artisanal jelly—items that just didn’t fit in a clothing shop. I keep inspiration binders full of things that made me think, Wait, this stuff could fill a whole different place.

So button-downs and jam don’t mix, but couches and pressed juice do?
The pressed juices taste amazing. This is like an old-school general store, where you pick up everything from a couch covered with corduroy from our archives to Japanese dish sponges and flash-frozen vegetables.

Are you a closet health nut?
I like to make smoothies blending our frozen kale with blueberries. But no, dinner last night was duck.

Interview by Jessica Silvester

Ask a Shop Clerk: Steven Alan