Inside the 14-Story Retail Shrine That Glasses Built (EXCLUSIVE)
They call it HAUS NOWHERE, but it really is quite somewhere. Difficult to miss with its 14-story frame rising from the teeming neighborhood of Seongsu-dong, HAUS NOWHERE Seoul is the fourth building of its kind. These “experimental retail projects” are operated by Gentle Monster as part of what it calls, in a press release, “future retail.”
Normally, when a company purports to have seen the future of retail, we're prone to scoff. But Gentle Monster actually did it. Or, at least, it came pretty close. If we thought The Jetsons looked like the future in the ’50s, HAUS NOWHERE is what people in 2025 consider forward-looking.
Highsnobiety was there as Gentle Monster’s parent company, IICOMBINED, allowed in a handful of friends, family, and press for an early walkthrough of the space, the first Western media to preview the massive structure.
The term “concept store” is generally attributed to Carla Sozzani, who founded pioneering Milanese boutique 10 Corso Como in 1991. Until then, luxury stores were either boutiques operated by the brands themselves — Prada store, Gucci store — or department stores like Barney’s and Nordstrom. Sozzani's prescient notion was to combine luxury garments, home goods, accessories, and art in one holistic space. This idea was later perfected by COMME des GARÇONS’ Dover Street Market stores, which combine disparate brand spaces and installations into a flowing, gallery-like experience.
HAUS NOWHERE is the concept store pushed to the extreme — a supersized experience that’s as much about being here as actually shopping, with more than a dozen floors of wild art pieces practically purpose-built for selfies. Gentle Monster’s flagship stores blazed trails in this space with absurd installations framed by sci-fi silver furnishings. But HAUS NOWHERE kicks it all up to 11, all but putting spectacle before product. Though, if you’re in the market for Gentle Monster’s sleek sunglasses, they’re here en masse.
Beyond Gentle Monster eyewear, HAUS NOWHERE offers products from other IICOMBINED lines, including fragrance label TAMBURINS and ATiiSSU, a self-described “fashion headwear brand.” Within the sprawling space, each label gets its own thematic buildout that will be refreshed over time and is destined to overwhelm the stuff intended to be sold. TAMBURINS, for instance, is promoting a new scent collection called “Sunshine” inspired by “all those who dream,” according to a release. This is represented in HAUS NOWHERE by an enormous effigy of a slumbering puppy that apparently dreams of “racing freely through the forest in shining armor.” A bespoke AI-powered “Sunshine” photo app encourages guests to not only take a picture with the pooch but digitally dress themselves in matching protective gear.
Extrasensory treats are commonplace at HAUS NOWHERE, quite literally. On another floor, tea brand NUDAKE’s “Scented Tea” line is laid out like a feast atop warped tables, framed by horse- and cat-printed packages of NUDAKE goods. Guests may be served desserts with NUDAKE’s tea in a service that evokes wine pairings. If you like what you taste (and smell), it’s only six steps to the register.
The top three floors of HAUS NOWHERE are specialty locations to be used for events, including a crowd-sized dining room and rooftop offering 360-degree views of Eastern Seoul. Most visitors will never get to experience these spaces but, to be frank, the other 11 floors offer more than enough to keep them captivated.
Turns out, nowhere isn’t such a bad place to be.
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