For more than 70 years, Aldik Home has been delighting customers with a one-of-a-kind shopping experience that’s had “customers coming to us for decades, and always for the same reason: the sense of wonder of walking into a 24,000-square-foot store designed to amaze, no matter the season,” shares Bryan Gold, the grandson of Aldik Home founder Richard Gold.
The store began in 1951 as a small shop on Melrose Avenue, founded by Richard (known to friends as “Dick”) and his friend Al. Combining their first names, they created the name “Aldik.”
In the early days, the store “sold arrangements to go on top of TV sets, which, back then, were huge appliances,” Bryan says. Al left before long, and in the 1970s, Richard moved the business to Van Nuys.
“My father joined the business then, and it grew into the largest importer of silk flowers and plants and home decor in the country, always with a focus on high-quality products,” Bryan says.
But it wasn’t all easy. The company was bought by private equity, and “through some poor decisions by them and the 2008 financial crisis, the bank was closing up the business in 2009,” Bryan explains. “My father bought the store from the bank to go back to our roots as only a brick-and-mortar retail/wholesale store, which is what we have been since 2009.”
From January through August, Aldik Home is an oasis of first-class silk flowers, custom-made silk trees built with real-wood trunks and stunning patio furniture displayed in artful arrangements. “When someone who is looking for patio furniture comes in, they’re blown away at how beautiful everything is because most patio furniture stores look like patio furniture stores,” Bryan says. “At Aldik Home, you’ll see it surrounded by the most beautiful silk flowers and plants on the planet.”
Come fall, the store transforms into “the most spectacular Christmas display in the country.” Planning for the holiday begins in January, with creative director Mayda Rodriguez drawing up plans, consulting with builder Chris Bowen and designing the brand-new display.
On August 1, a two-month installation process begins with more than 50 fully decorated trees, thousands of ornaments and elaborate set pieces.
“One year, Chris built a full-size, 10-foot-square gingerbread house,” Bryan says. “A few years later, he built a little village of several different storefronts. Every year is something wild and over the top and filled with Christmas decor that you just won’t find anywhere else.”
Whether it’s with patio furniture or stunning Christmas decor, the team at Aldik Home loves to continually be a part of making customers’ houses feel more like home.
“Everyone loves that feeling of finding a hidden gem, and even though we’ve been here for 70 years, I’d argue we’re still a hidden gem,” Bryan says. “Once someone visits, they become customers for life.”