Photos and reporting by Stacie Joy
The following Q&A was edited for length and clarity.
Exit9 Gift Emporium is turning 30 — three decades of clever cards, local finds and offbeat gifts that have kept East Villagers coming back for more.
In the lead-up to celebrating the shop's 30th anniversary, I spoke with the family (Charles Branstool, Christy Davis, and their daughter, Stella Branstool) who own and operate the gift shop to discuss how it all began, how a small business handles adversity, and some of their favorite Exit9 memories.
Why the East Village, and how did you come to be a family business?
Charles: Well, I lived here at the time, and I fell in love with the neighborhood. I lived right around the corner on Sixth Street, right above Joe's Bar.
Christy: We met in 1995; Charles had already opened the store. I had another job — in television. We were introduced by a friend. We met and became friends. We hung out as friends for quite a while before falling in love. I joined Exit9 in 1999 after leaving TV.
I did a year of bartending at the Phoenix on 13th Street, and once I discovered I was pregnant with Stella, I quit bartending and started working at the store, as much as I could as a pregnant person.
How does it feel to be celebrating 30 years?
Charles: I feel very proud of being here for 30 years. You know, it's a long time to be doing one thing, but I've — we've — done it pretty well. I'm very proud of the staff that we have. I'm proud of the partnerships we've formed, not just with our workers, but also with our vendors.
Christy: I also feel very proud to be a part of this institution. I kind of came into it by default, and I feel lucky for that, because it's become a career for me that I didn't anticipate, and I really do enjoy it. I was always a card collector, and now I'm a card buyer, along with other things, and I really enjoy that. It's a creative job. And I think that when I talk to people about us celebrating 30 years, their response is always that's just such a rare thing, especially these days, to be able to celebrate that kind of milestone. We've been through 9/11, Hurricane Sandy, blackouts, recessions, Covid — and bounced back. So I feel really proud to be part of that.
Stella, how is it for you, having grown up here?
Stella: It feels crazy. It feels awesome. I feel super lucky, too, to be born into a family business that offers good hours during the day and doesn't involve getting dirty with food… Everybody's, oh, not everybody, but mostly all the customers are in a good mood. It's fun, it's colorful, it's a good place to be born into, and I can't believe that it's older than I am [Stella is 25]. That's mind-blowing to me.
Charles: We're actually older than Amazon!
Stella: To me, it's crazy that I have never known life without Exit9. Wow. I've never known what life was like without this place. And as a kid, I was the coolest kid around. Can you imagine being a child who has access to this store? All my friends knew the store. I've been working at the store for a very long time… on and off.
Charles: It's true, I used to pay her in gum!
Stella: Another thing is that it's very helpful as a musician, as an artist, as a touring person, because this job is very flexible, to that lifestyle. To fall back on. I love Exit9.
Charles: Stella brought up the fact that this place is fun, and that's really what we were founded on, which was this idea of fun and curiosity. And I'm very proud of the fact that we've been able to maintain that fun and curiosity for a full 30-year cycle.
Christy: And to hear the soundbites of the people walking by when the door is open, saying "Ohhh I want to go into Exit9, mom, let's go into Exit9!" or "this is where I get all my holiday gifts" or "this is where we bought your wedding gift!" to hear what people have experienced from here is really touching.
For people to come in and say, "Please don't go anywhere, we don't know what we would do without you." It's touching to have a fan base like that.
Is there a favorite memory? What stands out?
Stella: Well, during Covid, I was not living with you guys, so I was kind of, I wasn't working at Exit9, and I was in school at the time.
Charles: During Covid? Nobody was working here!
Stella: Yeah, but I remember you guys would go to Exit9 and make these fun videos with the bunny bags. Remember that? For Easter? I guess that's not really a memory so much as, like, when I think about Exit9, persevering through so much time, I think about that and how you guys really were just getting creative…
Christy: That's where the goofy videos started! [See below!]
Stella: Being goofy and being sweet.
Charles: During the shutdown, you're just left with all this stuff. You're just left with this stage, and nobody's coming in, and that's where we're just like, OK, I'm gonna go make a sad video about Covid and being closed.
Stella: It's just wholesome.
Christy: And I mean, over the years, there were celebrity interactions.
Let's talk about that.
Christy: Bill Murray was my favorite. We carried two Bill Murray books at the time, and he had his luggage and it was during the holidays, and the two books were down here [gesturing], and I said, "Would you like to put your luggage over here?" And I motioned to the books, and he just laughed. And then my employee was trying to set me up with him for some reason, but he introduced himself to me as Bill, as if I wouldn't know who he was.
Also, Timothée Chalamet, Bowen Yang, Rachel Weiss, Björk, Meg White. I mean, the list goes on. Tig Notaro…Ethan Hawke, Jude Law, Peter Dinklage.
Charles: I think our windows are a memory for me ... That's where the magic happens. And from our window designer, Julie Delano.
Christy: Not that long ago, I was outside sweeping, and this older couple came by. And they were just like, and I've also, if I had a nickel for every time somebody said this to me, but it was just lovely to hear these, like older East Village people saying it. They said, "You know, every time we walk by here, the windows are so amazing. I don't know who your window dresser is, but they're better than Bloomingdale's. We're so impressed by what you guys do here," and that's really nice to hear. We always pass that on to Julie.
Stella has a good memory, Stella?
Stella: Yeah, I have a good memory, which is the shows that you would put on, you guys would put on in the windows for Halloween.
Would that be the doctor is insane?
Stella: The doctor is insane! That is a key memory. The preparation going into those shows…
Charles: Oh my God, that's why we don't do it anymore. The preparation alone killed me.
Stella: But people loved it.
Is there a chance it might come back? It was wildly popular.
Christy: I think we should do it at some point again.
Stella: Come on…
Christy: 2026?
Charles: Let's shoot for 2026…
You heard it here first, folks.
Charles: MAYBE.
Christy: We'll convince Charles.
Is there a typical EV customer?
Christy: Not anymore.
Stella: There are a few archetypes ... the old East Village head who has been around for years and years comes in, yeah, maybe a little punk…
Charles: Or like the guy who came in today for the drag queen calendars?
Christy: Arty, musician-y…
Stella: Artsy. Yeah, with tattoos. Oh, and people with their dogs, those are my favorite kinds of people.
Charles: The dogs love to come in here. We feed them.
Stella: Yeah, love the dogs.
What are the other archetypes?
Christy: You know, we talked about celebrities and, you know, pre Bill Murray and Timothée Chalamet and all, it was Murray Hill. And now we have, like, Jeff Hiller, who just won an Emmy for "Somebody Somewhere." Justin Vivian Bond comes in — she loves her candles. So yeah, that kind of downtown star. Like Jesse Malin, too, those are our regulars, and that's so cool.
Stella: Also, the kids! Young kids with their parents are really excited by this.
Charles: We've been here for 30 years, and we've seen these kids grow from being in a stroller to sometimes being hired!
Christy: Or sometimes having their own children.
Charles: Yes, or sometimes having their own children. When you are here this long, you get to see the whole life cycle play out before you, and that's a really humbling thing.
You can stay up-to-date with the shop and spot any anniversary specials, giveaways, or events via Instagram.
