Travel

First Look: Inside Garden & Gun’s New Charleston Storefront

Divided into two jewel box-sized spaces called Hunt and Gather, Fieldshop reimagines the high-end specialty shops of old.

Photo: Margaret Houston

For years, Charleston’s Mendel Rivers Federal Building, located on Meeting Street across from Marion Square, languished empty. No longer. Rescued by the Historic Charleston foundation and then purchased from the city by Dewberry Capital in 2008, the mid-century mid-rise underwent a total overhaul. What was once a dusty government office is now a gleaming five-star hotel, the Dewberry Charleston, which opened in July with 155 rooms, a Southern brasserie, a sleek living-room-like lobby bar, and as of Friday, August 19, FieldshopGarden & Gun’s first brick-and-mortar retail outpost.

Divided into two jewel box-sized spaces called Hunt and Gather, Fieldshop reimagines the high-end specialty shops of old. Like the magazine, Fieldshop puts special focus on high-quality craftsmanship. Hunt, with its rich oxblood walls, is filled with everything from vintage flasks to oyster knives to lapel pins designed by James Beard Award-winning chef Chris Hastings, of Birmingham Alabama’s Hot and Hot Fish Club and Ovenbird. Pick up a Westley Richards duffle or cartridge bag—Fieldshop is the only U.S. retailer where you’ll find the venerable British brand’s bags.

 

Across the hall, glass-encased Gather fronts Meeting Street and offers apparel, jewelry, cocktail napkins, candles, stylish objets d’art, and a custom-designed line of Palmetto bug chocolates. Brass hooks designed by Charleston metal artist Ann Ladson extend from the ceiling for rotating art installations that will change with the seasons—G&G’s version of the Bergdorf windows.

 

Stop by and visit us; starting Friday, September 2, Fieldshop will be open every day from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.


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