New York's Opening Ceremony to honor Olympics with a three-day marathon shopping event

Photo: Getty Images

Today in Beijing, the U.S. Olympic team marched into the 2008 Olympic Opening Ceremony wearing Ralph Lauren's Chariots of Fire-inspired team uniforms (seen above). Half-way around the world, New York's very own Opening Ceremony kicked off a three-day non-stop shopping marathon to celebrate the occasion.

Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, co-owners of the designer SoHo store, spoke with the New York Times about the 72-hour Olympic-themed fete. "From the very beginning, one of the things we've talked about was that we would love a store that was open at one or two in the morning," Leon said. "Sometimes you feel like going out, but you don't want a bar."

Late night attendees will be able to shop (Opening Ceremony is selling exclusive Nike items like $250 gold and silver versions of the Air Max 1), munch on free tacos and ice cream, participate in a 1 a.m. table tennis tournament on Sunday morning, and line up to commemorate the event with a tattoo by Brooklyn artist Scott Campbell who will be inking customers with Olympic designs beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday morning.

With Shopping, snacks, tattoos, (and the packs of cute hipsters that combination is sure to conjure) and Leon's promise to broadcast the Games at Opening Ceremony all weekend long (which are finally safe to watch again now that those ghastly Roots berets are out of the picture), we can think of no better way to spend the next 72 hours.

-- NOAH MICHELSON

Opening Ceremony is located at 35 Howard Street New York, New York 10013 Tel. (212) 219-2688