What's in Store*, vol. 4

This time it's in CDMX. *And Kingfisher is more than a store.

This week’s “What’s in Store” is different.

I go back to the reason I started “What’s in Store”: to be a way to say thank you for this lovely community. It’s meant to be a piece of candy. Sometimes I’ve touched and felt things you might have considered but not been able to experience first hand for lack of time or proximity. I’ve curated what I thought was the most worthwhile for you, along with my reasoning and takeaways.

But this is different.

Generically, I suppose Kingfisher is my first “multi-brand store” - but those words don’t do justice to Kingfisher. There are in fact many brands featured. But truly this is an experience, an experience akin to being welcomed into someone’s home. Specifically someone cool, but warm. Sophisticated, but approachable. Homey, but uber well traveled. In short: your dream friend. And on your imaginary drop-by-my-friend’s afternoon, something special and unexpected and kinda magical is bound to happen.

Ready? Let’s go.

Kingfisher is located in Condesa, a neighborhood I’m just learning and already loving (close to its more famous counterpart, Roma). It’s the brainchild of Stylist Caroline Rooney Serrano, and I found out about it because she’s one of my fellow Dora Maar “muses.” And as you can imagine, she’s one of those people with really instinctive, unfailing style.

The store is located just a cross the way from Parque México, and the neighborhood feels both upscale and at ease, full of sunny charm. The building itself is historic and was once an apartment. Caroline found it post-conversion to a commercial space and worked with her architects to preserve all the historic details (like interior dentil moldings) and make the most of the creamy light that filters in through the oversized glass entryway set in a wall of windows.

The two-room shop follows the cadence of a home. You enter to a wall of built-ins, with a foyer-like feel, and onto small round tables where you can discover extra long candles in array of delicious colors from raspberry to tumeric to vanilla; polished rustic vessels and vases, marbleized serving spoons with geometric heft; journals made from cactus, a sustainable “leather” product, which like most of what’s here, is locally produced. Caroline says she gets lots of traffic from neighbors in her upscale ‘hood (some drop by once a week to see what’s new); no surprise, this would be a regular stop for me as a local looking for a birthday or hostess gift.

In the tucked away area Caroline calls “the nursery,” she has a tight collection of simple chic kid duds, a selection of books and solidly made wooden toys which she says she’s found hard to come by locally (she’s a mom of a two-year-old), and a family of locally made stuffed dinosaurs.

There is also “the bath,” a tiled area with an oversized sink, with beautiful bath products on display. You can test them over the sink to see what you like. And if you’re gifting them, there are satisfying marble soap dishes to give alongside.

Finally, in the back of the shop, tucked away like a second bedroom, is a couch Caroline designed and had produced, using a maker in Polanco to conjure her dream couch, “a brown Chesterfield you can really sink into.”

On the wall are a couple mirrors encircled with the coolest design made from thatched cotton - the same thatched cotton treatment appears on a bracelet (I bought the last one but I bet she’ll get more) and creates the epaulets of a top. These are the work of a family run cotton mill in Mexico, and there are a few other pieces, all of them sculptural, stiff (in the best way, like a denim) and modern.

This area feels like getting invited inside your cool friend’s massive closet. The inner sanctum! Other carefully selected clothing lines the walls as well, including pieces from Counterfeit (perfectly executed non basic basics inspired by military wear) and several others, all of them easy and cool and never too overtly “artisan-y” to feel non-vacation wearable. What’s cool, too, is that Caroline doesn’t overbuy, so she can turn the store to keep it fresh and interesting and reflect her instinctive understanding of what we want when. She’s got, for example, an easy jumpsuit and a white swimsuit with those great lines a stylist knows will work on a real body; she’s been adding a few beachy pieces as she’s found that customers are dropping by en route to places like Tulum and Oaxca.

I left with my bag of treats (all of which I instantly wanted to wear) and capped this day off with a trip to Odette, Caroline’s recommendation, an-easy-to-miss bakery in this cheery neighborhood with outdoor tables and some of the best baked goods I’ve ever had in my life. Friends were meeting friends, and people were lining up for day of the Dead pastries. I had a scone, iced chai and a chocolate chip cookie to sustain myself while I worked up until a street food tour later, and even though I had a couple deadlines to deal with, I felt so fortified by my Kingfisher visit. It’s hard to explain, but some shops just have it, you know? That something. I felt that bounce when I left, kind of bouncing on the joy of discovery, on the hopefulness that someone would have the caring and the eye and take the time to create something like this, which feels like giving a gift in itself. A reminder of what a shop can be - so much more than “buying things” a magical little moment you get to have, just around the corner (if you’re lucky!) — or far from home.