Djuna, the tony interior design store once a mainstay of chic Cherry Creek North, has reopened its stylish doors at 1824 S. Broadway, a space that housed the funky Flossy McGrew’s costume shop for more than 30 years. And it’s brought along a few friends.
“This is a fun, hip, mom-and-pop neighborhood with no big names or big box stores. No Starbucks. It’s cool,” said Jeffrey Moore, a Denver native who owns Djuna with his wife, Karen.
The Moores will host their grand opening on Nov. 9 and will simultaneously celebrate Djuna’s 20th anniversary — a hard-won milestone.
Djuna struggled with skyrocketing rents in its original Cherry Creek North location. The Moores fled a falling-apart building that housed their satellite store at the Village at Flatiron Crossing. And in May, they lost their lease in the Golden Triangle and were given only 30 days to move.
Add to that radical changes in retailing, an industry plundered by internet shopping and always squeezed by economic downturns.
“In Cherry Creek North, we were paying rent for a small village. It almost broke us the last five years there. It was very, very difficult. We cut our staff of 12 to just Jeffrey and me,” Karen said.
“It’s been a nightmare,” Jeffrey added, “but now we’re re-energized, revitalized. We’re excited about the way we look, the building, and the energy growing in the neighborhood.”
Several neighboring businesses will host special events coinciding with Djuna’s reopening. The cross-marketing weekend involves nearby Eurasian Antiques, Old Glory Antiques, and Sobo Interiors.
Both of the Moores bring a fine arts background to the design table. He was trained as a painter and printmaker, but switched to leadership roles at art schools including Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village. She owned folk and contemporary art galleries in San Antonio, Texas.
Through Djuna, they’ve designed both residential and commercial interiors, including Devil’s Thumb Ranch in Tabernash. The Moores also were purchasing agents for furnishings in Denver’s historic Oxford Hotel.
Djuna’s legacy of antique French furnishings and Mexican church candles, aged architectural iron, eclectic wall décor, sumptuous Bella Notte bedding, old and new lighting continues in Djuna’s new location. Djuna specializes in one-of-a-kind items, such as costume jewelry molds or numbered wooden Roquefort cheese boxes.
The store is a cabinet of curiosity. Djuna’s tagline is “Furnishings for the cultivated ceremony of life.” Even the Moores’ dog — a Weimaraner named Cousin Ebo — blends with the silvery taupes and warm grays of Djuna’s signature palette.
The new space evokes previous incarnations of Djuna, complete with the popular “white room.” But the Moores envision an innovative future for their store named after the eccentric American writer Djuna Barnes.
“Over 20 years, we’ve developed what people refer to as the Djuna look. It’s an eclectic, vintage, found look,” Karen said. “But this time around we’ve incorporate a little mod and organic.”
A furniture line from Mexico, for example, uses reclaimed dead trees at least 100 years old.
The Moores hope their new location is their last. Built in the 1950s by General Electric, the building originally served as a workshop.
“Karen found this space, and my first reaction was ‘no freaking way!’ It was a warehouse, a pit, dark and dingy,” Jeffrey said, “But after she worked on me for about six months, I began to see the light.”
The building is so large that the Moores invited a few fellow design purveyors into their new space.
“It’s the future of locally owned retail: sharing,” Karen said. “It’s not a co-op, but we are marketing this as Djuna and Friends.”
Djuna’s friends include five local businesses: Authentic Persian & Oriental Rugs, Julip, Relic Antiques, Reclaimed Relics and Tapestry by Carolyn Fineran.
The ample building also appealed to the couple’s intentions to host events such as benefits for their favorite nonprofits, Learning Ally and Dress For Success, and cultural happenings, succulent garden plantings, or cooking demonstrations. The Moores also will resurrect Djuna’s wine club. “We want something happening above and beyond our retail store,” Jeffrey said.
“Retail can’t wait any more for people to come in to shop,” Karen said. “My firm belief is that you have to create an experience, a place that people want to keep coming back to for events or just to walk through for fun. We have to have a reason to come so they’re not online shopping.”
The Moores also plan to continue leading small groups abroad.
For 12 years, the couple traveled to Europe two or three times a year to buy merchandise for Djuna. But the Great Recession put an eight-year moratorium on theirs’ buying trips.
The entrepreneurial Moores rebounded by creating a sideline business based on their intrepid travels. The couple now leads groups of eight or 10 people to France and Mexico, and will add Italy this year. The trips include shopping, cultural exchanges and ethnic cuisine.
“We want to keep it small so it’s like friends traveling with friends,” Karen said.
Splitting their time between retailing, designing, hosting events and guiding tours to foreign lands, the Moores aim to celebrate Djuna’s 30th anniversary — or possibly 35th.
“We’re grateful to still be around. It’s been tough, and it’s still tough. We know we’re lucky to come around to the right place at the right time,” Karen said. “We’re not young anymore. This is our last hurrah.”
