Checkerboard trinket trays, strawberry-beaded earrings, screen-printed wall hangings. Printed cropped sweatshirts, zodiac-collection nail polish, knit beanies. These are just a few of the items that will make their way to the new Golden Gems store inside West County Mall this spring. By moving west, sisters Amanda Helman and Susan Logsdon, who co-founded the company, will expand their whimsical footprint from two stores, in Midtown St. Louis, to the suburbs.
“It’s crazy to think that when we started the brand in 2016, we were making everything by hand literally on the floor of my living room,” says Helman, “and now we’re about to open a third store.”
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Here, she talks about the decision to open the company’s newest storefront and what customers will find behind the pink-painted exterior.
Tell us about your decision to expand to West County. How did that come about?
We moved into our City Foundry location–we started as a temporary pop-up–in December 2021. It went so well and we were so excited to be there. We were about a mile from our headquarters on Locust and it was interesting to see how we were reaching new people who had never heard of us—who have never been to our flagship store. They loved it and most of them were from the county. So we thought, there’s definitely a space for us out in the county.
What can you tell us about the new location?
It’s on the first floor [of West County Mall], close to the Barnes and Noble entrance. I’m excited about the placement. It’s near a lot of comparable stores that [will make it easy] for our customers to come from, like Forever 21 or Macy’s or Altar’d State.
What do you have planned for the interiors? Will the look be similar to the other stores?
It’ll definitely be similar to the other stores and definitely a very Golden Gems vibe. Lots of pink. Lots of neon. You’ll see our signature letter board. We’re definitely leaning heavy on this ’90s mall-rat vibe.
For those who may not be familiar with Golden Gems, how do you describe the ethos of your brand?
We believe there’s a badass inside of everyone and we want to inspire everyone to live unapologetically and take up space. And that’s what you will find when you come into Golden Gems. It’s empowering and inspiring. We do that with all of our products.
