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Grown-Up Boys’ Wear for Bar on Barricades
For a revolutionary, a nom de guerre is both an image maker
and a practical tool. He or she can employ one to burnish or
fashion an image, adding mystery to the mundane – as Patty
Hearst did when she was reborn as Tania – while neatly
covering his or her tracks. The owners of men’s store called
Nom de Guerre, which is set like a bunker or an after-hours club
in concrete chambers underneath the sidewalk at Broadway
and Bleecker Street, are clearly enamored of revolutionaries
and their advertising techniques. Here is a store without a storefront.
Heck, it doesn’t even have a sign, though if you’re looking
down at just the right spot, you might see the words “Nom de
Guerre” stenciled on the sidewalk …
Nom de Guerre’s owners, Mr. Saalabi; Ms. Harnsongkram; Wil
Whitney… and Devon Ojas… prefer to describe themselves as
a collective. “ We like to have things that we feel are important
culturally and socially,” Ms. Harnsongkram said. “ not totally
heavy but a little bit of thought there.” I asked Ms. Harnsongkram
how you make a business at subway level with no billboard…
“We’ve always operated by word of mouth,” she said.
“it fits with the ideas we have. And we always carry something
special to make sure it’s worth the trip.” There is something
pleasantly subversive about a store that is literally underground,
just below the scads of shoppers log jammed at the Crate &
Barrel corner at Broadway and Houston Street… It’s not too
heavy, but there’s a little bit of thought there.
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