White aspen trees seemingly sprout from the floor of Colfax's newest streetwear store that's making its return to Denver after closing five years ago in a different space. The new open space boutique is lined with a rack of merchandise held up by gold chains attached to the ceiling.
Owner John Rehnstrom, who built the interior design of the locale, walks around making final adjustments in preparation for the grand re-opening.
And that'll happen this Saturday, May 6, when DVSN WEST will open its doors to the public on the corner of Colfax and Vine at noon for a special event to celebrate its return to Denver's fashion community.
DJ Daytona will spin from 5 to 7 p.m. and Armando Geneyro's recent photo collection, "Courtesy of Colfax," depicting moments he's captured on the busy street, will also be on display.
Rehnstrom has been planning out the return of DVSN WEST since buying the company in November of 2021.
"Reopening DVSN WEST, part of it for me, was trying to figure out why it was always tough for streetwear stores, in Denver specifically, to keep things in a good way," Rehnstrom said. "One of those things was just kind of tapping into a little bit more of the outdoor market."
Rehnstrom used to work weekends for DVSN WEST when he first moved to Denver 11 years ago. At the time, he was getting into photography, so he did a lot of product photography for the store in his free time.
DVSN WEST closed its Cherry Creek location in 2019, and he then went to work for FICE Gallery, another streetwear store originally located on Walnut and 27th Streets, for a couple years before they also eventually closed at the beginning of the pandemic.
Unemployed, Rehnstrom began thinking about what it would look like to open his own business. Understanding the difficult business side of launching an entirely new project, Rehnstrom thought about bringing back DVSN WEST in part because of the name recognition it had in Denver years ago.
"Getting everything up and running, that's been like a two-year process," Rehnstrom said. "The physical buildout was about seven months."
Building an indoor forest was one of Rehnstrom's first ideas for the physical landscape of the store, hence the slim aspen trees visitors will walk by as they peruse the goods.
Rehnstrom wants to bring together passions that many Denverites share in common: streetwear, hip hop, and the outdoors.
"One of the thoughts behind the store is what draws me to Denver," Rehnstrom said. "I love hip hop culture in general, but I also love the outdoors. Denver's one of those rare cities where you can have both right next to each other."
Each room is built out to compliment the curated list of brands that will be sold inside the store.
In the middle room, Rehnstrom asked a friend to teach him how to install brick pillars, which took about a month.
He then positioned backlit solid oak shelves between each pillar.
"If you're in the other room looking in, you can only see the silhouette of the shoe but then like once you're in here, you can actually see the product pretty well."
On each shelf are products that toe the line of fashion forward urban designs with a functional, outdoor appeal. Some in-store brands will include New Balance Lifestyle, Finnish brand Karhu, Dickies workwear, Russell Westbrook's Honor The Gift brand, Canadian streetwear Raised by Wolves, outdoor lifestyle Manastash brand, and Japanese brand nanamica.
"I can supply something that is fashion forward for people that like being in the outdoors, but then also being able to do the same for people that are urban dwellers," Rehnstrom said. "We're not where we want to be range wise, but it's all kind of a process. We have a couple [brands] that we are in deeper discussion with."
The final room will be the dedicated café area that will offer drip pour over and French press coffee from Onyx, a roaster based out of Arkansas. The hope is to create space where people can hang outside of the retail space.
"It feels a lot like a living room," Rehnstrom said. "It's supposed to be comfortable. Come work, have conversations and be around like-minded people."
When asked why Rehnstrom chose Colfax as the location for DVSN WEST, he mentioned just how pivotal the scene has been to his time in Denver.
"I've lived on Colfax for about eight years now. Throughout the years it's just kind of like the most New York feel of the city," Rehnstrom said. "Getting to know the people in the area is really personally and emotionally transforming. There's a lot happening and it's a really fun part [of Denver]. One of the biggest things I believe in is that you should always feel something. Hopefully I can be able to provide not just a product, but help people feel something."
