The Rolling Stones Announce Permanent Retail Store In London
Well, this is a new one. The Rolling Stones are opening a new brick-and-mortar store in London. Not a pop-up, not some kind of temporary arm of their online merch, and not some general rock store with a whole lot of Stones products. The Stones are opening their own store, with their own new products dedicated to their history. I can’t say with exact certainty that a band has never opened their own dedicated store in this way, but it certainly seems unique. Maybe it’s fitting: For the past three decades or so the Rolling Stones have been a brand more than they have been a band, in many ways.
The store, devised in partnership with the company Bravado, will be called RS No. 9 Carnaby, and it’ll be located at the titular 9 Carnaby St. in London’s Soho neighborhood. “Soho has always encapsulated rock ’n’ roll so Carnaby Street was the perfect spot for our own store,” the band said in a statement. “We are confident this exciting project that our friends at Bravado have created will be an unrivaled experience for everyone to come to London and enjoy.”
It’s positioned as more of a fashion-driven enterprise than, like, a Disney-esque gift shop, but it’s still going to be a spot for all things Rolling Stones. The announcement promises “exclusive and contemporary collaboration pieces” featuring men’s, women’s, and children’s clothes and accessories. There’s glassware, developed with Baccarat, that comes engraved with the Stones’ iconic tongue logo. RS No. 9 Carnaby will also stock chairs and scarves from the Soloist, as well as raincoast and hats from the Swedish brand Stutterheim. And, of course, the store will always be playing Rolling Stones music.
Below, you can check out some renderings of what the store exterior might look like, some product shots, and a teaser video the band released today.