GstaadLife

The Pure Snowboard Shop in Gstaad is organizing a fashion show at the Split Club on Saturday October 22 2011. The runway will feature the newest collections for the upcoming winter sports season. The fun kicks off around 22:00. 

Did you realize that the old kiosk in the Promenade is no longer a kiosk? Gone are the newspapers, gone are the magazines, and in their place is the Würzbar, finally removed from its former storage room location behind Matti Interiors and out in the sun where it always should have been. Check it out - they have great spices, oils, teas, chocolates, an other specialties. 

 
Don't miss this great market - lots of stands, lots of food and lots of fun. It starts at 9:00 and goes until 17:00. The Lions Club Gstaad Saanenland will also have a stand there where they collect old reading glasses for SightFirst - so don't forget to bring them. 

 
We really don't know where to start with this one, and seeing as we already know what you're thinking, we'll save ourselves the effort.

 
Pictured above is the new Viktoriastrasse in Gstaad - in the past a very unattractive street, now lined with fine boutiques ranging from Vertex Sports, Bach's Bazar, and a new gallery/antique shop with the most original of names (Galerie d'Art). Vertex in particular is leagues above its previous incarnation as Hermanjat Sports, replete with all the woody/granite/white stucco coolness found at the renovated Park Hotel and kitted out with vintage gondolas from Wispile's heyday. All-in-all it's a nice little aside to the Promenade. Check it out next time you are in town.

 
Above the second Star Design shop newly opened at the location where Brigitte Glur used to be between Pernet and the former, yes former Hermenjat sports shop. And what's with the dog? Maybe he heard about the cow that went shopping a few weeks back at sister Star Design boutique Les Petits Anges...

 
Meanwhile over the road, the Hermenjat Sports shop is gone, and is not looking a pretty sight right now - we will update on what's it being replaced with asap. The remnants of Hermenjat will become Vertex Sports which will be located in a new shopping street off the main Promenade behind the Sporthotel Viktoria. This new cluster of shops will also feature new retail space for Lorenz Bach in the ground floor of the Bernerhof staff chalet, who has shut down the Style Gstaad shop at the Migros roundabout. Right now Vertex is all boarded up, but below you can see an architect's rendering of how the new store will look as of December 17.

And finally, below, a picture of the new location of the Zwahlen-Hüni clothing shop in the side street opposite of the Restaurant Rialto - looks very chic.

 

Can't be bothered to cook but want something homemade and really delicious? Take a little drive out to the butcher in Rougemont, to André Reichenbach. His wife Birgitta quietly stocks the freezer in the far left corner with the most mouth-watering prepared dishes. One of our favorites is the poulet à l'orange, which, we shamelessly admit, was even used for a dinner party once - transferred from the aluminum container into a beautiful glass dish, prepared in the oven for 90 minutes, and accompanied by a generous helping of compliments (sorry Birgitta). Other fantastic dishes include a delightful salmon-spinach lasagne, a supreme potato gratin, real Swedish-style meatballs that your kids will absolutely love, and an exquisite, delicately-spiced lamb curry that even the most Indian of Indian specialists approved of. So empty your freezer of all those boxes with E-numbers and pass by André's.

Click here for the holiday opening hours for last minute food shoppers. 

By Louise J Esterhazy
Illustration by Gary Hovland

People don’t believe it, but things do happen in the mountains.
On a spring day, I sat out on my deck in this village, looking at the green, green mountains glowing with buttercups; the sapphire blue sky; and the cows, bells rhythmically clanging, roaming up into the Alps. I stared at the prunus trees, their pale pink blossoms floating in the air like snowflakes.

I was just dozing off, ready for a little nap, when the telephone rang. One of my merchant friends had called to inform me that Ralph Lauren was opening a boutique in Gstaad, in a space currently occupied by the shop Les Amis. Willing to do anything to chase a juicy rumor, I rushed down the hill to the pedestrian-only Promenade, the village’s main street, to see the three-story site. And what a sight. On top of the future Ralph Lauren store is a church steeple. I thought, Are they going to ring the bells to bring in customers? It turns out the belfry is mere decoration.

As I wandered along, I mulled over the meaning of Mr. Lauren’s arrival. First of all, he’s going to face formidable competition. In this village of 3,000 year-round inhabitants, there are stores where Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Moncler, Hermès, Lacoste, Cartier, Chopard, Patek Philippe, Rolex and Vacheron Constantin, to name just a few, can be purchased. The famed boutique Lorenz Bach already carries Ralph Lauren.

Click here for full story.