Cooper Avenue

Photography by Jon Warech; PHOTOS: Seth Browarnik on October 13th, 2012 in Openings

Miami Beach, FL – October 13, 2012 – Nestled between Lincoln Road and the Fillmore, and just a block from the hub of hotels on Collins Ave., is a place so perfect that it doesn’t matter what’s close by, because you’ll never want to leave. Ladies and gentleman, say hello to the one-stop shop that is everything you would want for your Miami lifestyle – Cooper Avenue.

From the imagination of owner Amir Ben-Zion (Gigi, Bardot, Townhouse), Cooper Avenue is an all day and all night, every occasion destination, where you can go on a dinner date and buy her flowers after or buy that condom you’ll definitely need after a night on South Beach AND the perfect place to take her to breakfast in the morning.

“There was a void for something like this on the beach,” said Cooper marketing maven Erica Freshman. “A one-stop shop with people getting up to go to work mixed with people who haven’t gone to bed yet.”

Let that settle in your head for a minute. The same place where you go to get drunk is the same place you grab coffee and newspaper in the morning. The same place you meet your parents for a Sunday night family dinner is the same place you pop in for juice and a muffin. The same place you grab pizza late night is the same place you buy toothpaste.

It’s quite a concept. Anything. Anytime. Finally, in South Beach.

“There’s a real sense of community,” said Feshman. “You see people you know while getting a coffee in the morning or a drink later. Amir had a vision and he went with it.”

And for the record, this wasn’t just the vision of one innovator. Amir surrounds himself with a group of creative individuals where each person contributes to the overall vibe and energy of the space. Everything from the Bar Lab created cocktails to the American cuisine menu from executive chef Wolfgang Birk, to the 24-hour music selection on a state of the art sound system under perfectly lit LED lights is perfection. Even the rolling papers are placed ever so delicately next to the sexytime kits in the shop.

“We want people to feel like can get a little bit of everything here,” said retail director Rukhsana Uddin. “It’s Dean & DeLuca meets Colette but price friendly. We cater to both vacationers and locals.”

The perfectly curated items found at Cooper Avenue are no exception even when it comes to the art. “We, the Beautiful People” is an art project conceived and executed specifically for Cooper Avenue’s opening in 2012 by Eurydice. Cooper Avenue aims to be a 21st century marketplace and the art pieces are conceived to echo the ancient murals on walls leading to and in the traditional market and at the same time to speak on behalf of and create an emotional bond with the trendy Mac generation of today.

They support the locals too. Cooper carries local made good likes Ginny Bakes cookies, and even the Cooper Avenue paraphernalia was designed by local artist Rony Tako. It’s that commitment to the neighborhood that makes you realize that when every staff member uses the word “community” to describe Cooper Avenue, you know they actually mean it, because Cooper Avenue is not just a one-stop shop, it’s your only shop.