FIRE ISLAND PINES HOSTS NEW RETAIL CONCEPTS FOR SUMMER SEASON

The Fire Island Pines Commercial District is looking forward to an exciting summer 2019 season as the LGBTQ community marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

As part of this occasion, the Fire Island Pines Commercial District has announced a new retail concept grouping of shops lead by retail guru and self-described ‘hunter and gather,’ Steven Giles, founder and creative director of BASE USA and BASE Project.

The long-standing beach destination for the LGBTQ community will offer a cohesive and creative vision of limited-edition and first-time-to-retail brands to the retail curious Fire Island Pines consumer—homeowners and weekend visitors, alike.

The retail concept, complete with its own brand identity includes:

CAMP: Located next to The Hotel by Sharegurl, this retail outpost will be a chosen selection of home décor, tabletop and outdoor living needs from Bare Bones Living and Snowpeak. CAMP will also be The Pines hardware store, offering the essential needs from a selection of ACE hardware products along-side fresh cut flowers, mulch and garden needs.

HANDSOME: The popular Lower East Side barbershop, Tuft, will open an outpost in The Pines from Thursday to Sunday and offer barber and grooming needs to make sure everyone is “weekend ready.”

TRBL: The annex retail spot will offer an elevated selection of swimwear and underwear from Caricoa, and others as well as an adult-driven selection of LGBTQ fetishwear brands such as “Tools” by Tom of Finland, Just Do It Babes, Nasty Pig and Project Claude.

General Store: The largest retail footprint in The Pines, the General Store will continue its curated apparel, gift and jewelry selection with brands including Mykita Eyewear, Comme Des Garcon fragrance, Save Khaki, Raf Swaider (exclusive to The Pines), Olebar Brown swimwear and Skull and Bones.

Having started his career as with hotelier Ian Schrager, and developed the retail stores for Schrager’s Morgans Hotel Group, Giles now works very closely with the PUBLIC and The Edition Hotel properties internationally. Giles understands what the consumer may want to purchase with their limited time in shopping and browsing in destination retail. He has directed the company-owned retail selection at Fire Island Pines since 2014.

Giles reflected on the importance of Fire Island and the community to which these retail outposts cater to and embraced for more than 70 years, “it is not difficult emerging from a life of oppression to understand the early allure of a safe, boundary-less haven that was Fire Island Pines in the 70s and early 80s, attracting the very best of our community, it rapidly became a game of brinkmanship that led to the iconic architectural style that is so emblematic to The Pines.”