Jonathan Adler, the home decor brand known for its bold and modern aesthetic, has landed on the Upper East Side with a new store at 1019 Lexington Avenue. The new location joins its two other stores in New York, in SoHo and the Upper West Side, as well as stores in Chicago, Miami and London.
The Lexington Avenue store features a new retail concept centered on gifting, neighborhood discovery and the brand’s most recognizable product categories. The shop also showcases the brand’s latest products in a location-specific assortment of home decor.
Jonathan Adler has been owned by American Exchange Group and Consortium Brand Partners since December 2024.
The Lexington shop features a tightly edited concept centered on pottery, tabletop, games, decor and unexpected objects. It comes as some of these categories are seeing strong momentum, with games — including the brand’s mahjong and backgammon sets — posting double-digit growth and consistently selling out.
The 850-square-foot space has striped accents, a playful nod to the signature striped motif of Jonathan Adler’s Vice Collection. For a limited time, the store will offer a capsule collection of archival pieces, signed by Adler. The shop also has a new “scent bar,” with a dedicated space to showcase the brand’s recently revamped candle assortment in its entirety.
“Our customers have been asking us for an Upper East Side store for years. Who am I to say no?” said Jonathan Adler. “This store is a colorful little jewel box full of everything you need to gift your hostess — or yourself.”
Alison Bergen, president of Jonathan Adler, added, “This store is an opportunity to think differently about how customers experience Jonathan Adler in person. We wanted to create something highly edited, approachable and discovery-driven, while still delivering all of the personality and point of view people expect from the brand.”
Since being acquired by Consortium Brand Partners, the brand has added about 50 new brick-and-mortar wholesale doors, while shifting its digital marketing strategy. They also launched an “an amazing partnership” with Michael’s last April, which runs the gamut from DIY craft kits, home decor and entertaining essentials, to customizable ceramic objects. Bergen became president of Jonathan Adler last April.
Over the years Jonathan Adler left some key markets because of challenges, but looking ahead, they’d like to have a store in California. “We were historically in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and we still think we belong there for sure. So we’ll be on the hunt for a way to establish ourselves there,” Bergen said.
Discussing the new Lexington Avenue store, Adler told WWD, “I think this is just a really interesting edit and curation of our stuff in a jewel box-like setting that’s more focused on ceramics and accessories, and kind of all the finishing touches you need to make your home glamorous and eccentric. So if you stop by our shop, you’re guaranteed to leave with something that will make you seem even more glamorous and interesting than you probably are.”
Bergen said the new store is significantly smaller than Adler’s typical one. “It’s a fun experiment to try and edit. Jonathan Adler, the brand, is in many categories, and it can be hard to do everything well….so the thought was we know this client is very social. She’s hosting. She’s gifting when she is hosted. She’s entertaining. She wants to zhuzh up the space in advance of having folks over,” Bergen said.
She believes the fourth quarter is a great time to open the store and a good time to be a “go-to everyday shop.” The shop carries the full range of decorative accessories.
Adler said that games have been huge for the brand. “We are sort of the OGs in the game space,” he said. “We’ve been doing them for a long time and have developed a real signature in our incredible lacquer game sets that are both chic and cheeky, and kind of a great price point. But we’re also expanding into different categories of games.
“We’re living in a Mahjong world. I’ve lost all my friends to Mahjong. They’ve all been taken over like zombies,” Adler said.
“I think there’s this whole nostalgia kind of way of entertaining right now, that’s a bit like a ’50s vibe. [It’s no longer] formal 18-person seated dinners with name cards. It’s come over and have game night and serve small plates and have a cocktail or a mocktail,” Bergen said.
Adler said they introduced new colors and patterns of Mahjong sets every season, and they all perform. “I mean, it’s incredible. Our biggest challenges have been keeping them in stock. They’re very special pieces.”
“There’s a lot of work and craft that goes into creating that lacquer technique,” Bergen said.
From an omnichannel perspective, decorative accessories are the company’s largest volume driver, and within that, it’s pottery and games, Bergen said.
Bergen said the brand has always been very active in collaborations and cross-branding. Wholesale hasn’t historically been the focus of the business, but it’s become important going forward, Bergen said. For example, at Bloomingdale’s, they’re opening about 20-odd doors. They’ll be featuring the brand’s decorative accessories, games and tabletop. It’s not formal china, but serveware, appetizer plates, dessert plates, glassware and mugs.
Neiman Marcus has been the brand’s biggest partner for many years and represents the best range of the offer. “Our business is super strong there,” Bergen said. They also sell Macy’s, Liberty London and Browns in the U.K., and has a large specialty store business.
“One of the things we’re focused on is coming to seasonal market with very strong stories that are curated across categories,” Bergen said. In January, they will feature their fall 2027 product line that ranges from dinnerware, glassware to tablescaping. “I mean, we source all over the globe and it’s nice to have this sort of highly artisanal made in Europe collection.”
She said they want the customer to think, “I want to buy the whole thing. I want it all. I want to have a dinner party just so I can use all of it,” she said.
Meantime, Adler said his pottery studio is where everything begins. “I think perhaps people just see me as an impossibly glamorous jet set socialite. However, the actual truth is that I am a potter, and the pottery studio is literally the engine of all our creativity. And I hope that what resonates with customers is the fact that there is an authorial and craft-based design process. So we’re very moored in craft as always,” Adler said.
Bergen said that craft really runs through everything. “For example, if we wanted to make snail-shaped brass knobs on a cabinet, those snails start in the pottery studio and then they become a mold to cast the brass. I think that’s a story that we’re excited to tell with a bit more visibility as well. Because it took me weeks into the business to really understand that truly everything stars on the potter’s wheel,” Bergen said.