Hipster Home Coming to Germantown Avenue

A single blue chair stands in the window of 8236 Germantown Ave., preparing Chestnut Hill for what is to come.

On Oct. 1, will be opening at that location, moving to the Avenue from .

“We’ve been in business in Phoenixville for four years, but lately it is turning into more of a restaurant district, which is great for us as residents. But as a business, we can survive, but we needed a more competitive retail situation,” said Dave Friday, who owns the store with long-time partner Lindsay Herman.

The store sells unique, contemporary home goods such as furniture, lighting, sound systems and decorative pieces. Friday says they drew much of their inspiration from retailers such as Urban Outfitters, IKEA, Fosters and Host, which previously occupied their new location on Germantown Avenue.

“Retail can be cool and fresh and not always gender-specific,” Friday said. “We wanted to open a space where everybody feels comfortable and they come for the experience as much as for the products.”

The store is a dealer for global brands, including Umbra, Gus Modern, Blu Dot and Geneva Sound Systems, a top-of-the-line stereo manufacturer.

What draws a fair amount of attention to their business, Herman said, was the name.

“We chose it four, five years ago, before hipsters were a hated breed,” she joked.

Friday explained that choosing a store name is more complex than one might think, and a lot of thought goes into it.

“We had tried a bunch of things, like combining our middle names, and we kept arguing corny names. One day, we were in New York, walking around and shopping, and we saw a sign that said Hipster Music, and I just said ‘How about Hipster Home?’” Friday said.

Even though the suggestion was not meant to be serious at the time, Herman liked it. The rest is history.

Since then, the retail business has been growing, without a down year yet, according to Friday. The web store is a big part of that, accounting for about 20 percent of their business.

But as the store grows, Friday said they remain a mom and pop retail store. Friday and Herman even deliver the sofas themselves.

“People come in and they know they are going to see mine or Lindsay’s face. They can tell right away that I really care about the business and that they are going to get great service,” Friday said.