For her fifth large-scale installation, British artist Lucy Sparrow converted a sweeping space in downtown Los Angeles into a full-on felt supermarket modeled after the city’s classic convenience stores.
Open for business until August 31 at The Standard, Downtown LA, “Sparrow Mart” is stocked with everyday items from produce to packaged foods, to cleaning supplies and liquor bottles made entirely from the fabulously fuzzy fabric. The 31,000 pieces—all handmade and signed by Sparrow—are available for purchase in store. Prices vary, with $10 sushi rolls, $35 candy bars, and $65 bottles of gin among the range of feel-good felt goods for sale.
Items for sale range from a fully stocked sushi bar to a movie section filled with box-office hits.
Photo by Michael Anthony Hernandez, courtesy of The Standard, Downtown LA
The imaginative pop-up comes on the heels of Sparrow’s wildly successful installation at Manhattan’s Standard Hotel last summer. (Named “8 ‘Till Late,” the pop-up was modeled after a classic New York City bodega. It drew so many visitors that the shop sold out and had to close a week early.)
“Sparrow Mart” is the artist’s fifth large-scale installation and her West Coast debut.
Photo by Michael Anthony Hernandez, courtesy of The Standard, Downtown LA
This year’s installation in Los Angeles is four times larger than the New York City pop-up and took Sparrow and a team of assistants a full year to create. You can visit the all-felt supermarket without a reservation on Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. until August 31.
All of the store’s felt creations were made by hand.
Photo by Michael Anthony Hernandez, courtesy of The Standard, Downtown LA
But you might not want to leave this shopping trip to the last minute—Sparrow’s site-specific installations tend to become sensations both on the Internet and IRL and could sell out of goods early.
British artist Lucy Sparrow helmed “Sparrow Mart,” a large-scale pop-up in The Standard, Downtown LA.
Photo by Michael Anthony Hernandez, courtesy of The Standard, Downtown LA
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