The story behind the pinkest shop in New York City

On Bleecker Street in New York, wedged between a series of neutral-toned buildings, sits the pinkest shop in NYC.

So says the fuchsia, fluorescent sign inside Colorful Natalie, the 500-square-foot apparel and accessories boutique that’s become known by passersby for its rosy exterior, and for those on the internet as the must-visit tourist destination for NYC merch.

It lives up to the name: Its pink walls are adorned with racks of pink hangers holding its many (mostly pink) NYC hoodies, tees, and tanks, along with accessories like slippers, scrunchies, hats, and jewelry—nearly all designed by founder Natalie Acopian.

The store, which opened in 2024, has risen to popularity as Acopian has taken to social media to showcase the store and chronicle the highs (lines down the block) and lows (a very vocal critic of her pink storefront) of the day-to-day operations of her shop, accumulating millions of views and nearly 250,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok.

Chatting with Retail Brew inside Colorful Natalie, Acopian shared the store’s journey from curated e-commerce fashion shop to souvenir hot spot, and the wins and pain points of going viral as a small, self-funded business in NYC.

Local color: Colorful Natalie started in 2019 in Los Angeles after Acopian, having garnered a social media following for her graphic designs and fashion content, graduated college and launched an e-commerce store of items she curated. Putting in a few thousand dollars, she garnered $300,000 in sales in her first month, she said, enough to fund the venture herself. Moving back home to the East Coast during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, she hosted popular pop-ups at Chelsea Market before deciding to open her own brick-and-mortar location. The prospect of a long-term lease and massive retail competition made the hunt difficult.

“I was told ‘no’ so many times,” she said. “They were like, ‘Who are you? What are you doing?’ I was just this—I mean, I still am—this young girl. They were just shocked.”

She eventually found and signed a one-year lease for the Bleecker Street store, and obtained permits to paint the exterior pink due to the store’s location in a historic district.

The store’s early inventory featured just a handful of NYC-themed merch Acopian designed, which quickly became the shop’s bestsellers. Last year, her content began to highlight the store as a destination for NYC souvenirs, and she shifted its merchandise to meet demand, with few non-NYC-themed items.

While that wasn’t the original store conceit, the identity has helped Colorful Natalie stand out among the city’s many boutiques, Acopian said. Now, she estimates she sells about 2,000 NYC sweatshirts a month—equating to nearly $2 million in sales annually.

“Almost everything is made and designed by me, so you literally can’t find it anywhere else,” she said. “I think that…brings people in.”

Working up a sweatshirt: On social media, she takes shoppers behind the scenes, showcasing apparel samples and a day in the life of a retail shift, keeping shoppers updated on everything from the restock of its signature holographic shopping bags to in-store exclusive products.

“I never thought that I would be in front of the camera telling everyone what’s going on in every single moment of my life, but I think it inspires people who want to have a business or are interested by what I’m doing,” she said.

Going viral hasn’t been easy; Acopian admitted she and her employees were initially “drained” from the influx of customers. When its business skyrocketed last holiday season (and its only inventory storage was a slightly spooky basement under the store), Colorful Natalie’s empty racks and shelves forced Acopian to share TikTok updates and shift store hours due to out-of-stock merchandise.

Since then, Acopian has secured a 2,000-square-foot warehouse space in Manhattan, with a manager dedicated to inventory and e-comm fulfillment. While Acopian envisions expanding to a larger space, her ~$300,000 annual rent dwarfs in comparison to the $1.5 million-a-year locations in SoHo she’s seen, so she’s focusing on in-store renovations to better optimize space, and selling some accessories wholesale in the meantime.

Think pink: As Colorful Natalie has grown, Acopian has learned that dedication and a bit of healthy delusion has helped the business stay in the pink.

“You have to be really passionate about it,” she said. “It’s a lot of work. I’m working all the time, 24/7, but I love it.”