Underground Style Resurrected

Tucked away on a small block of Dekalb Avenue between Kent and Franklin Avenues is a little slice of underground Bed-Stuy, where hip hop merges with dope cuts and neighborhood shop talk, and where, if you also want it, you can get a cup of coffee.

Resurrection Designs and Concepts, located at 467 Dekalb Avenue, opened in October 2010. It is a combination barber shop/clothing store. “We like to call it a lifestyle boutique,” says the store’s owner, 34-year-old Maria Bauknight.

Maybe you’ve never noticed the shop. Or maybe you have seen it and assumed something less than remarkable. The signage out front does not bare the store’s name. Nor does it announce its retail side carrying the latest in cutting-edge urban streetwear.

Instead, there is an awning that hovers high above the store’s entrance with the words “Barber Shop” scribbled in colorful graffiti handwriting, hinting only at the store’s underground theme.

The store’s artfully elusive image, for now, serves it just fine. Because those who know and patronize the store, have always known and patronized the store.

Bauknight, who is a barber by trade, said she opened the retail side, Style Island Boutique, because her customers asked for it. It seems, Bauknight’s eye for style and detail, lively conversations at the barber shop and trustworthy personality had her regulars asking, “So what else you got for us?”

So she added a men’s clothing line to her barber shop equipped with a small bar where coffee, tea and wine is served. Her inventory is still small, with about one of three sizes in a dozen of today’s popular urban brands. But, according to Bauknight, many more items are on the way by spring.

Bauknight is planning a grand opening party for Resurrection Designs and Concepts around March 21, with food, a DJ and discounted specials on clothing and cuts.

The store’s loyal customers, friends and others in the neighborhood who have known about the store, no doubt, will be in attendance. But she is hoping to attract new customers, the newbies in the neighborhood who’ve ever wondered about the store and what’s actually inside.

So, if you don’t know, now you know.

Resurrection Designs and Concepts is open Monday through Saturdays, from 10:00 a.m - 7:00 p.m.

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