We have chairs! We have dimmer switches! We have a basement full of cardboard boxes we are dutifully unpacking to organize inventory. But most importantly, we have SIGNAGE.

Our favorite NYC sign painter Will Van Zee spent five days crouched in our window practicing his alchemy with gold, turpentine, and an incredibly steady hand to create the gorgeous "Boston gilded" version of our logo you see above.

Already, this beautiful lettering is turning heads and inspiring curious neighbors to stop by. My favorite interaction so far was a young teacher who squealed, "I can't believe you're opening a store on my block! I order from you all the time!" A good sign of things to come.

Yet another good sign: tickets for our inaugural close-up magic show with Eric Mead sold out in four days. One hundred lucky people are going to see the master at work from mere inches away.

If you missed out on tickets to see Eric, be sure to subscribe to event announcements at 69atlantic.com. Tomorrow, we'll be announcing our next performer, a one-of-a-kind artist who will spend two weeks with us here in Brooklyn during Halloween time... Or as the sign at the costume shop calls it, "spooky season."

More next week,

Adam Rubin
Brooklyn, NY

It's amazing how much can happen in a week. We went from a dusty, dark construction site to a clean, sunny room with rich cork floors and gleaming copper ceiling tiles. The space is full of promise but otherwise empty. The next step is unpacking all the boxes in the basement to organize our inventory.

Meanwhile, our carpenter John is busy upstairs assembling custom shelves and furniture. He's an excellent woodworker and the planks of European apple ply he's using have an attractive industrial quality that will pair well with all the rich tones in the room.

Out front, renowned NYC sign painter Will Van Zee is applying gold leaf lettering to the windows. Now that the paper is off the glass, lots of curious neighbors are stopping by to ask what we're building. The shortest answer I've come up with is "a design shop for magical home goods."  

And speaking of magic, we recently announced that our inaugural performer will be one of our favorite magicians on the planet, Eric Mead. Eric hasn't done a ticketed show for the public in New York in 20 years. Space for these shows will be extremely limited and we expect them to sell out fast, so if you're interested in buying tickets, be sure to sign up here before the end of the day: 69atlantic.com

Less than a month out from opening our doors... Getting to the fun part now.

Adam Rubin
Brooklyn, NY

We are VERY excited to announce that in addition to offering a wide selection of magical home goods, puzzles, games, toys and books, we will also be hosting performances of CLOSE UP MAGIC at the new Art of Play store.

Our weekly showcase “World’s Finest Sleight of Hand”will feature our absolute favorite magicians from across the globe and is basically a chance to host heros and friends for a weekend of intimate shows in Brooklyn.

The list of talent we have booked already is bonkers and the opportunity to see these people perform their full show publicly is extremely rare. Each performance will feature a single artist and an audience of less than 30 people... Which means that tickets will be limited.

The best way to find out who's coming and snag your seats before they sell out is to subscribe to our event listings for 69 Atlantic. We'll continue to post updates from the shop in this newsletter but for show news and tickets, be sure to sign up below and you'll get an update later this week to announce our inaugural performer.

I'll share some more construction photos next week. We've made dramatic progress over the past few days.

Adam Rubin
Brooklyn, NY

As I look around the construction site, it's hard to believe our plan is to open this shop in just over a month. Everything is covered in plaster and sawdust, half the ceiling is missing and we still have no floor. The sign painter is scheduled to come next week but we don't currently have windows for him to paint on...

The good news is that things are progressing quickly now. We finally got permission from the Landmarks Preservation Commision to "restore the former beauty" of the historic facade (everything is harder in NYC). So in a week or two we'll have a dramatic before and after to share.

In the meantime, the new AC system is in, all the light sockets and outlets are working and the walls are nearly ready for paint. These sorts of milestones don't make for thrilling photos but you've got to have a solid foundation to build something great, right? I think about how when a new building goes up, it seems like just a hole in the ground for years and then all of a sudden—WOOP—a tower shoots into the sky.

So, full steam ahead this week as we start building furniture and making everything presentable; we'll have old school tin tile ceilings, luscious cork floors, and some truly excellent surprises.

More next week,

Adam Rubin
Brooklyn, NY

The rumors are true. This fall, we'll be opening a brand new, brick and mortar Art of Play store in the heart of Brooklyn, New York. Walking distance from the Brooklyn Bridge and around the corner from spectacular views of downtown Manhattan, 69 Atlantic Ave. will soon become our new home.

Dan and Dave founded Art of Play eleven years ago with 52 decks of playing cards, and a shared vision to combine beauty with wonder. Since then, the company has grown to include magical home goods, puzzles, games, toys, books and who knows what the future will bring...

I'm very proud to be partners with these two brilliant brothers and the three of us are incredibly excited about the new Brooklyn store. It's essentially a lifelong dream come true. But there is still a LOT of work to do.

If you're interested in following along, I'll be sending out short email updates once a week with the latest news from the store. We'll be opening sometime this fall and I can't wait for you to see it in person but while we get things ready, take a look at what the place USED to look like.

Until next week,

Adam Rubin
Brooklyn, NY