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SALT LAKE CITY — Modern home decor retailer West Elm will open its first location in Utah on Thursday at City Creek Mall, and it will be only the first in the U.S. to partner with local Etsy artists.
"It's pretty fun. We're pretty excited to be here in Salt Lake City," said Abigail Jacobs, a representative of the store.
Jacobs said that although there are only 43 other stores, Salt Lake City was chosen for a new location because of both the environment and the local artists.
"The mall is beautiful, it's such an amazing gathering place, and we're hoping that our store is going to become that, as well," Jacobs said.
Holly Jones, of the Say Hello Etsy shop, created an installation for the store. She said when she was younger, she didn't care about toys.
"My dad was a printer, and I wanted to play with all the paper in this trash," she said. Jones will be selling homemade clocks at West Elm.
The company chooses a local nonprofit to benefit at the opening of every new store, and Craft Lake City was chosen this time. The nonprofit highlights handmade items from local artists.
"One of our missions is to redefine the term craft," said Angela Brown, festival director of Craft Lake City. "We want to show that it's more than just knitting or quilting, although we do love people who quilt, as well."
West Elm opens Thursday at 10 a.m.
