Reflecting on the Sprezza Holiday Shop last weekend

A few thoughts on what was an incredible day in lower Manhattan

Sprezza

Nov 16, 2023

I just sat my tired ass down to type this out, and I can’t stop thinking about how fun last Saturday was.

What a bloody weekend. The support was real.

The vibes were good.

And it was an inspiring day to connect with so many good folks IRL that I’ve been wanting to meet for years.

Entrance to the space. A Canal street experience.

ICYMI—I hosted a holiday popup shop last Saturday in New York City, and it was so good.

Me, all photos by Chris Fenimore for Sprezza

I had no firm expectations about the weekend.

Sprezza is a one-man team for now, and I’d never hosted a retail activation like this before, let alone in NYC during the holiday season.

I had a good bit of RSVPs to expect there would be a good crowd, but you know people, they tend to flake last minute (shoutout to all you flakers, you missed out! :)

But when we opened the doors at 11am, people busted in.

And it stayed like that all day.

All told, there were easily 400-500 people who rolled through on Saturday, which is absurd.

And from 2-4pm, when Delany was spinning those records like his life depended on it, it was bumping!

The brands were dope.

Huckberry // photos by Chris Fenimore for Sprezza

The street style was nuts.

After the event, my boy Chris Fenimore, who took all these killer photos, posted on IG that it reminded him of early Tumblr days when the community vibes were pure and authentic.

And that means a lot to me because that’s exactly what I wanted. To create a space that has all the elements of discovery, curation, and community—to transport the online experience to the IRL experience.

It’s not easy doing that, especially by yourself. But we did it, and I thank everyone who reads this newsletter for that. For the brands, creators, patrons, sponsors (Huckberry, Centro, and Partiful), and everyone else (shoutout, Madre and Visitor!) who helped make this a success.

And huge thanks to Earshot for making this space available to host at. Check ‘em out if you need space in NYC for events.

Could no way in hell have made this happen without you.

So let’s run it back. I’m making plans to do another one of these in 2024.

Could be NYC again. Might be London. Who knows. Either way, it’ll be guaranteed good times. And that’s all you can really ask for.