SCENE + HEARD: Rufskin and Broadway Bares Boys Cause Pop-ups On Eighth Avenue

(Chris & Adam @ Rufskin Eighth Avenue)
 
It doesn’t take much to turn heads in a neighborhood like Chelsea, but the Rufskin pop-up store on Eighth Avenue found a rather enticing way to stop traffic in front of their huge windows last night, when they hosted the boys of this Sunday’s Broadway Bares 20 for a fundraiser and shopping extravaganza. The gays sipped complimentary drinks and previewed  merchandise both on hangers and on the scantily clad Broadway beefcakes. We caught up with Rufskin’s global sales director Jason Wimberly, who reminds all you procrastinators time is running out to visit the temporary shop. “We’re here for three months with one more left to go,” he says. ”This pop-up will go to Atlanta in the fall—We travel around and bring nudity to your hometown! After that, we'll be looking for a fulltime space on Eighth Avenue. It was a strategic plan because we’re much larger in other [areas]—specifically in Asia and Europre—so we really wanted to increase our market presence in the United States."
 
As for the paring with Broadway Bares, Wimberly says it was a labor of love. “Our manager Dana is quite a show queen. Hee’s always walking around singing showtunes, so it was all his idea. Normally I head all events globally but he wanted to support the cause—and of course it’s an amazing thing to support,—so I let him run with it,” said Wimberly of the charitable event. With five days until the big Broadway Bares: Strip-opoly show, this little appetizer thoroughly whetted our appetites!—Christopher Dilley