7th Avenue opens first Maryland showroom in Harbor East

Harbor East has landed another first-in-Maryland tenant, and this one reads less like a routine store opening than a vote of confidence in Baltimore’s waterfront retail corridor. Los Angeles-based 7th Avenue planned to open its first Maryland showroom this fall at 830 Aliceanna St., in a 1,028-square-foot space between the Inner Harbor and Fells Point.

The showroom fit the brand’s model. 7th Avenue built its business around modular sofas and sectionals, with stain-resistant, water-repellent and machine-washable covers, the kind of features aimed at customers who want stylish furniture without the upkeep that usually comes with it. The company already used appointment-based showrooms in Los Angeles, Denver, Houston and Las Vegas, with locations in Rice Village and West Hollywood showing how it paired online sales with in-person browsing. Founders Billy Shaw and Josh Stinson spent about ten months designing, prototyping, testing and developing the sofa that helped define the brand.

For Harbor East, the move added to a retail mix the neighborhood has spent years curating. Harbor East says its district spans 12 walkable blocks and is home to boutiques, wellness and jewelry stores, top activewear retailers and upscale national brands. Its broader built environment includes nearly 3 million square feet of office and retail space, two Marriott hotels and more than 990 residential units, a density that helps explain why national brands continue to treat the area as a visible entry point into Baltimore.

Tim O’Donald, president of Harbor East, said the neighborhood has been looking for “trendy up-and-coming brands” to complement that mix. The pitch has already worked for other first-in-Maryland concepts, including Saatva in 2024 and Game Show Battle Rooms in 2025. Harbor Point, just next door, adds another layer of scale to the waterfront corridor with 27 acres and more than 4 million square feet of retail, residential, hotel and office uses, plus 9.5 acres of open space.

The latest addition suggests Harbor East is still drawing retailers that want affluent foot traffic, brand visibility and a customer base comfortable with buying by appointment as much as by impulse. In a downtown market still sorting out post-pandemic shopping patterns, 7th Avenue’s arrival showed that some national brands still see enough stability and spending power on Baltimore’s waterfront to open here first.