Goop Labs’ exterior on Bond Street
Gwyneth Paltrow’s cult-like health and wellness company, goop, has been able to maintain a steady following since its inception. With more and more customers flocking to its site, even throughout controversy, it was natural for the online brand to try its hand at brick-and-mortar shops. With three goop “Labs” in New York City, Los Angeles and London, the brand has reached a new level of customer experience.
The goop Labs are influenced by their surroundings in design, yet still emote the passion for high-end health, wellness and fashion goop followers should expect. The NYC store in Soho seamlessly meshes with the sleek exterior of brick and industrial design on Bond Street. Lab is also a succinct and powerful way to describe their permanent sites. While it’s decorated with lavish, handpicked furniture, designer paint and perfect floral arrangements, it also feels a bit sterile. The products can feel prescriptive to an idealistic and unrealistic lifestyle. The entire Lab itself can also be intimidating, especially to a first-time customer.
That is why I was pleased with my experience at goop’s pop-up “MRKT” in the Hamptons. The goop MRKT at Sag Harbor is adjacent to bustling Main Street on a quiet but idyllic plot directly across from the bay. The crisp, white exposed wood rafters, light grey English sofa, and original hardwood floors made me feel as if I was shopping at my (albeit wealthy and imaginary) friend’s summer house. Even though the store is quintessentially Hamptons-chic, MRKT still features quirky, goop-inspired design elements, such as a free-standing Kohler bath anchoring the beauty and wellness room.
Complete with a mudroom and outdoor lounge area, this home-to-retail MRKT is the perfect introduction to the brand. While the products offered here are goop bestsellers, they are merchandised by category, so lower-priced and luxury brands intermingle. This helps keep the store surprisingly unpretentious. The goop ambassadors play host, making you feel at home with a complimentary drink and an invite to a plethora of events, including brand-sponsored mixers and styling sessions.
The eager ambassadors, well-versed in the products they sell, are helpful to “goop-ify” your life with goods ranging from skincare, beauty, home decor, workout equipment and even the infamous Jade Egg. I was surprised to find my favorite, moderately-priced skin care favorites mixed in with tiny bottles of $450 serums.
The goop brand may be portrayed as an elitist--and sometimes outrageous--company by modern media yet, yet it seems to always find a customer for each product. Whether that be my favorite $15 rose lip balm, an amethyst quartz-infused water bottle for $84, or a “medicine bag” complete with a “set of chakra-healing crystals that have been energetically cleansed with sage, tuned with sound waves, activated with mantras, and blessed with Reiki”.
While the goop Labs are impressive in design and customer service, the experience can leave us feeling a bit “left out.” The covetable MRKT location designed in harmony with lush Hamptons at Sag Harbor is a welcoming breath of fresh air and we hope to see more of the approachable element of the brand break through in all of its IRL moments.