SFERRA Is Unveiling Its First Physical Store, In An Italiante-Style Townhouse In New York City

Luxury Italian bedding and lifestyle brand SFERRA is opening a 26,000-square-foot store, its first physical store in Manhattan’s Flatiron District, in a three level Italiante-style townhouse. While the brand is long on history – it was founded in 1853 – it’s store is designed to be an experiential retail center.

With three-floors to explore, the Townhouse gathers all of SFERRA’s product lines under the same roof. That includes bedding, bath, down, robe, and loungewear; tabletop; rugs; decorative accessories, and gift collections. The latter features one-of-a-kind items sold exclusively at the Flatiron District Townhouse.

The store showcases SFERRA’s collections in an elevated space that echos a comfortable New York City home. Displays of SFERRA products from the early days, and spanning 130 years are showcased throughout the Townhouse alongside recently launched items.

The merchandise will allow guests and designers to immerse themselves in the world of SFERRA and imagine how the products will look in their own homes. The Townhouse has a dedicated design studio where designers can host clients or interact with SFERRA staff to source items and place orders.

“There’s going to be a workspace for interior designers in the Townhouse,” a spokeswoman for SFERRA said. “If a designer wants to bring in paint samples or a mood board, they’re encouraged to make it a work space, and make it as practical as possible.”

“New York City has played an important role in SFERRA’s illustrious 130 year history,” said Michelle Klein, SFERRA’s president and CEO. “It was in New York City that our founders, the Sferra brothers, decided to settle when they arrived from Italy at the turn of the last century, making it the perfect location for our first flagship.

“We’re extremely proud to bring this story full circle with the opening of the SFERRA Townhouse, a beautifully-designed space showcasing our vast range of offerings for the home, including exclusive limited-edition pieces only available at the Townhouse. This retail location is a real nod to SFERRA’s past.”

SFERRA isn’t the first home lifestyle brand to conjure up a store as a home concept. Restoration Hardware even went so far as to open RH Guesthouse on Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District, and it opened The Gallery on nearby Ninth Avenue, which features five floors of rooms filled with RH’s oversized furniture and a restaurant on the roof.

RH has a lot more name recognition than SFERRA, so it remains to be seen whether the Italian brand can make a splash in Manhattan.

“I don’t know about you, but I want to touch and feel things that touch my skin whether it’s towels or sheets,” the spokeswoman said. “Honestly, that’s one of the reasons they made the decision to open up a physical brick-and-mortar store.”

SFERRA for many years has been sold at Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue, and will continue to be available at those stores. “To have their own space where you can come in and say, ‘Okay, I like to sleep and be very warm,’ or ‘I get really hot when I sleep so I want to make sure I have something that’s cool.’ You can have a one-on-one conversation with someone who can guide you,” she added.

Studio Monteleone & Associates designed the Townhouse with SFERRA. The design company also created the brand’s in-store shop at Harrods in London.

“It was important to reach the right balance for the expression of SFERRA while celebrating the historical significance of the of the existing architecture of the townhouse,” said Lisa Monteleone, founder of SM&A. “The design and materials are a canvas to exhibit the products that furnish the SFERRA lifestyle with an evenness between the historical space and what our clients consider home today.”

SFERRA was established in New York 130 years ago by Gennaro Sferra and his brother, TK, with a focus on luxury textiles manufactured in three century-old family-owned textile mills nestled in the Alpine foothills of Northern Italy. SFERRA has been at the forefront of luxury bed-making and introduced the first 1,020 thread count sheets in TK, which were two years in development.

“Over the last couple of years, what SFERRA has seen is the whole idea of styling your bed and your bathroom,” said the spokeswoman. “How many times have you walked into someone’s house and there’s a million pillows on the beds and fluffy towels in the bathrooms. This will show the breadth of their full collection.

The spokeswoman added: “The Townhouse is so comfortable. That’s why they’ll be serving beautiful Italian coffee so people don’t fall asleep.”