We've long been of the opinion that New Yorkers, while picky about most things, aren't picky enough about their coffee. (Being addicted to Starbucks doesn’t count.) So we were excited to hear that Italian espresso company Illy opened a temporary café in SoHo to offer New Yorkers real Italian espresso.
Myra Fiori, director of public relations for Illy USA, conceptualized the café, which launched with a party on September 14 and will close December 15. "The awareness and consumption of gourmet coffee is at an all-time high right now," Fiori said. "Illy has been the choice of connoisseurs and chefs around the world for years now, but our consumer awareness is lower, so we wanted to make Americans more aware of Illy."
Wrangling the café’s West Broadway location—once occupied by home furnishings store Dome—was the first hurdle. "Real estate agents are not very open to temporary space leases. I walked the streets every weekend and week for about eight months," Fiori said. "We felt SoHo was the right neighborhood because the neighbors are galleries, our target consumer is there, and the neighborhood is right as far as the other companies located there."
The space also doubles as an art gallery; a performance space for talks, screenings, and a coffee education series; and a private event space. "Our build-up time was more than other pop-up stores because we had to have a sophisticated A/V system, we installed some plumbing, we had to expand the electrical—it was just more complex than racks of clothes or objects of art that go on shelves," Fiori said.
Carlos Bach, Illy's in-house art curator, designed the space, whose centerpiece is a dramatic, swirling iron chandelier that holds more than 300 espresso cups and saucers with Illy-commissioned designs from artists including Jeff Koons and Louise Bourgeois. The rest of the café is furnished with products from Italian companies, and event designer Annalisa Milella—who designed this year's Dia Beacon gala—decorated the space with glass vases filled with coffee beans, and coffee tree leaves and branches flown in from Central America.
Great Performances operates the café, serving nine coffee drinks and a rotating menu of nine desserts from chefs who serve Illy in their restaurants, including one Fiori handpicked: "I was [at BLT Fish] dining one day and had the best chocolate espresso cookie. It was divine, and I remembered it for when I was making this menu."
After the coffee buzz wears off—literally, for some SoHo residents—the company is thinking about taking the Galleria to other markets. "We already have regulars from the neighborhood who come in two to three times a day," she says. "When we close for events, it upsets the regulars—they want the ability to come in often, and they keep bringing new people."
So maybe the company will open a permanent café? "We didn't approach this as a moneymaker. This was a brand-building exercise—and experiment. So we didn’t know what to expect. We're making adaptations every day to accommodate what we've learned."
—Suzanne Ito
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Myra Fiori, director of public relations for Illy USA, conceptualized the café, which launched with a party on September 14 and will close December 15. "The awareness and consumption of gourmet coffee is at an all-time high right now," Fiori said. "Illy has been the choice of connoisseurs and chefs around the world for years now, but our consumer awareness is lower, so we wanted to make Americans more aware of Illy."
Wrangling the café’s West Broadway location—once occupied by home furnishings store Dome—was the first hurdle. "Real estate agents are not very open to temporary space leases. I walked the streets every weekend and week for about eight months," Fiori said. "We felt SoHo was the right neighborhood because the neighbors are galleries, our target consumer is there, and the neighborhood is right as far as the other companies located there."
The space also doubles as an art gallery; a performance space for talks, screenings, and a coffee education series; and a private event space. "Our build-up time was more than other pop-up stores because we had to have a sophisticated A/V system, we installed some plumbing, we had to expand the electrical—it was just more complex than racks of clothes or objects of art that go on shelves," Fiori said.
Carlos Bach, Illy's in-house art curator, designed the space, whose centerpiece is a dramatic, swirling iron chandelier that holds more than 300 espresso cups and saucers with Illy-commissioned designs from artists including Jeff Koons and Louise Bourgeois. The rest of the café is furnished with products from Italian companies, and event designer Annalisa Milella—who designed this year's Dia Beacon gala—decorated the space with glass vases filled with coffee beans, and coffee tree leaves and branches flown in from Central America.
Great Performances operates the café, serving nine coffee drinks and a rotating menu of nine desserts from chefs who serve Illy in their restaurants, including one Fiori handpicked: "I was [at BLT Fish] dining one day and had the best chocolate espresso cookie. It was divine, and I remembered it for when I was making this menu."
After the coffee buzz wears off—literally, for some SoHo residents—the company is thinking about taking the Galleria to other markets. "We already have regulars from the neighborhood who come in two to three times a day," she says. "When we close for events, it upsets the regulars—they want the ability to come in often, and they keep bringing new people."
So maybe the company will open a permanent café? "We didn't approach this as a moneymaker. This was a brand-building exercise—and experiment. So we didn’t know what to expect. We're making adaptations every day to accommodate what we've learned."
—Suzanne Ito
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Galleria Illy, a temporary café in SoHo operated by Italian espresso brand Illy and Great Performances, opened with a launch event on September 14. The café is in the former space of home furnishing store Dome.
Stark white walls displayed projected images and graphics at the opening event. An Illy-commissioned James Rosenquist painting hangs on the north wall.
Carlos Bach, Illy's in-house art curator, designed the dramatic, swirling iron chandelier that holds more than 300 espresso cups and saucers with Illy-commissioned designs from artists including Jeff Koons and Louise Bourgeois.
Black leather couches from Moroso and Artemide light fixtures decorate the café.
