I Want to Live Inside the New Want Les Essentiels Store

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

If there were ever a store for which one might seriously considered packing up and embarking upon the horrific experience of moving in NYC, it's Want Les Essentiels — which makes sense, considering co-founders Byron and Dexter Peart specifically designed the West Village townhouse to look like your dream home.

The Montreal-based brand, known for its leather handbags and luggage, opened its first-ever global flagship over the weekend, and if the store looks familiar, it's because until recently the address was home to the Marc Jacobs women's accessories store, the one with the brick exterior and gorgeous arch windows. Luckily the latter remain, though the interior of the store has been transformed entirely.

Upon entering, you'll be greeted by the "living room" area, consisting of stacks of books and two giant, cowhide leather chairs to read them in, surrounded by the Want Les Essentiels accessories collection — currently, that means leather backpacks, briefcases, and totes.

Head towards the back, and you'll be inside the hallway-like "wardrobe" section, with racks of tailored sweaters, trousers, and apparel by international brands like Japan-based Tomorrowland (which just opened its own NYC store, coincidentally), Commes des Garcons Forever, 1205, and more, as well as Want's own cashmere sweaters and men's footwear (women's shoes are coming in the spring).

It's the final section that'll really convince you to stay awhile: At all times, there's a bar where you can order your choice of tea, then hang out at the corner banquette. Nearby, there's cozy blankets and other home decor, design-y kitchen appliances, and candles from Byredo.

The homey vibe isn't even just limited to the furniture and the fare — even the cash register is hidden behind a sliding door, creating the feeling that you're hardly even in a store at all, and instead inside the apartment you live in in an alternate universe where you're also famous and fabulously wealthy. But until then, the Want Les Essentiels store will do.