629 6th Avenue and 19th Street

The Container Store is an organizer’s nocturnal emission, offering a very insightful angle in the commercial world our economy relies on. Where other stores try to sell devices, gadgets and all sorts of “things,” The Container Store sells you a way to store those many things you have undoubtedly been duped into buying (it’s okay to admit it; we’ve all been down that road). And as we accumulate more things, we come closer to resembling the ancient Egyptian Pharaohs in their quest to accumulate. The Container Store will be rolling out a new line of slim yet spacious tombs later this year.

It’s almost too easy to expect the bathroom to reflect this store’s obsession with space, so we must first ask ourselves: what would a bathroom have to store? Aside from general toiletries, there’s really only two things people put here — three if you count morning sickness, four if you’re doing lines. Unless they have replaced urinals with funnels that don’t need to be flushed, creativity can only go so far here. Space is the key, and the Container Store shocks us by containing only two stalls and (two urinals in the men’s room). The decor is a cold, steely gray, lightly adorned with shiny white brick tiles along the wall. It’s a strange contrast to the colorful plastic bins you trip over on your way to the bathroom. The playground-pattern gray marble sink sports yellow rings around the faucet handles, causing us to question where the Container Store gets its water supply from. The mirrors above the sink have stress marks around the spots where they were welded to the wall. The aforementioned stalls are made of brushed steel paneling, and in the larger of the stalls is a foot-pedal trash can with a sweater inside. We suspect Mister Rogers dumps his outfit here and becomes a superhero?

In a day where studios can be arranged to look as big as mansions, The Container Store should have considered their bathroom as another strategy to sell their brilliance in saving space. Sadly, not even Super Rogers can help here.

Rating: 5.5

Bookmark and Share