Fools Mansion
Written by Glen Hughes on July 31st, 2008 No Comments
Earlier this year it appeared that one of Salem’s destination shops Fools Mansion was to close it’s doors forever. Thankfully for us locals and many tourists, on the day John the former owner was to close up shop a young Salem couple stepped up to the plate and bought the store.
Matt told me that he and his wife were not looking to become shop owners here in town but felt compelled to keep this well established clothier open and expand it with a focus on local artists and some edgier products.
The Grand Re-opening of Fools Mansion in Salem
Grand re-opening of the Fools Mansion
Traditionally the Fools Mansion cornered the North Shore market on Goth and Ren-Faire clothing with a good bit of Edwardian and Victorian pieces thrown in. Today they still have the cloaks , pirate shirts, and corsettted womens clothing but have expanded their inventory to add more contemporary hats, a line of day-of-the-dead bags, printed shirts from a local artist and more. In addition to clothing Fools Mansion carries jewelry, art and music all from local Salem artists.
Last Saturday night following their Friday ribbon cutting ceremony with the Mayor, they held their Grand Re-opening party. With a packed house well known goth/industrial DJ Addambombb spun a great mix while a newly opened back room served as the dance floor. Earlier in the night Orange Nicole preformed as did local belly dancer Aepril Schaile.
Fools Mansion
The opening party brought together plenty of Salem insiders, shop owners and a few out of towners. I’m sure that with their new community focused approach, inspiration from fabled NYC St. Marks street shops and great customer service Fools Mansion will continue to be a staple shop for tourists and insiders alike.
For more pictures from this event check out our Flickr page.
Tags: business
