THE LYKKE JOURNAL • POST 03 • 7 minute read
The Story Behind Lykke Living — How a Question About Storytelling Became a Boutique in the Berkshires
Most stores begin with a business plan.
Lykke Living began with a question.
The question sounds simple: what makes people stop in front of a product and feel something? Not just want it — actually feel connected to it. Moved by it. Like it belongs in their life in a way that goes beyond the object itself.
The answer took a full sabbatical to arrive at. And when it did, it was consistent enough to build a store around.
The Sabbatical
The inquiry started with books. Seth Godin on marketing as storytelling. Matthew Dicks on the structure of a story that lands. The recurring argument across multiple disciplines that the products and brands that endure are the ones that give people a story to tell — about themselves, about what they value, about what they chose to bring into their lives.
Then it moved to research — visiting markets, meeting makers, and handling product until a pattern became impossible to ignore.
What separates the finds that stop people in their tracks from everything else is rarely obvious at first glance. It is not always the most beautifully designed piece in the room. What it is, consistently, is a combination of three things: the find felt genuinely unique — something you could not find at a chain store or order from a catalog; it fit naturally into a life lived slowly, close to nature, with intention; and behind it was a story about real people that was worth repeating.
The rattan bag handwoven by women in the Tenganan Village of Eastern Bali using techniques passed down through generations. The candles hand-poured in Hudson, New York by two men who left careers to create the fragrance they could not find anywhere else. The soaps and lotions handcrafted by survivors of human trafficking on their path to financial independence. The coffee brand where every bag supports rescue organizations giving at-risk dogs a second chance.
These were not finds chasing a trend. They were finds with a reason to exist — beautiful, purposeful, and rooted in a story that gave them value beyond what they cost. That is what we look for. That is what ended up on our shelves.
The obvious next question was: what would a store built entirely on that idea look like?
Why Lenox
The answer to that question arrived slowly and then all at once.
Lenox, Massachusetts kept coming up as a place that felt right. The Berkshires has always attracted a particular kind of person — someone who believes that certain things are worth the effort. Worth the drive up from the city. Worth the slower pace. Worth paying attention to.
The arts institutions — Tanglewood, the Mount, Shakespeare and Company, Mass MoCA an hour north — draw people who care about craft and storytelling and the experience of being genuinely moved by something. The natural landscape — the mountains, the trails, the long light of summer evenings — creates the kind of slowness that makes a person receptive to beauty in a way that a busy day in a city does not.
And Church Street in Lenox specifically felt like exactly the right scale. Small enough to know your neighbors. Warm enough to feel like a community. Large enough to serve both locals who would become regulars and the stream of Berkshires visitors looking for something that felt genuinely of this place.
A store built around story and intention and slow living — a cabin in the woods where you could pause and find something beautiful — felt like it belonged here in a way it would not have belonged anywhere else.
So we opened one.
The Name
Lykke is the Danish word for happiness. Pronounced LOO-kah.
But not the happiness of a good meal or a sunny afternoon or the particular pleasure of finding a parking space immediately. Those are real and worth having. Lykke is something deeper — the happiness that accumulates slowly over a life lived with intention. The happiness of belonging to a community. Of meaningful work. Of the small rituals that make a home feel like a home. Of the simple things that make a life feel full rather than busy.
The Danes have consistently ranked among the happiest people in the world for decades, and researchers who study this tend to point to lykke as a key part of the explanation — a cultural orientation toward the close, the considered, and the deeply felt rather than the impressive, the expensive, and the aspirational.
That orientation is what the store is built around. Not luxury. Not perfection. Not the most beautiful version of everything. The right finds, chosen well, for a life worth living.
Once you know what lykke means, you start to see it everywhere. In the mug that fits perfectly in both hands. In the candle that changes the feeling of a room in the thirty seconds it takes to light it. In the dog treat that was made by someone who actually cared what went into it. In the blanket that gets used every day rather than saved for guests who may never arrive.
That is what we sell. Not products. The feeling.
The Vendors — Why We Choose What We Choose
Every vendor at Lykke Living was chosen the same way: because their story moved us.
That is not a marketing position. It is a genuine standard that has turned away a lot of beautiful and commercially sensible finds. If we cannot tell a good story about it — honest, specific, worth repeating — it probably does not belong on our shelves.
Here is what that has meant in practice.
Freedom Studios makes luxury bath and body products in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Every product in the line is handcrafted by survivors of human trafficking on their path to financial independence. Three women who learned about the reality of trafficking in their own community decided that what would actually help was not awareness but employment — skilled work, dignified wages, the ability to provide for themselves. The products are genuinely excellent. The story behind them is the reason we carry them.
La Soufflerie is a family-owned atelier and non-profit in Paris. Sebastien and Valentina Nobile founded it after Sebastien discovered his passion for glassblowing and uncovered an urgent problem alongside it: fewer than five professional glassblowers remained in the entire Paris region. La Soufflerie handblows every piece from recycled glass and reinvests every euro back into supporting the artisans keeping this centuries-old craft alive.
KalaStyle has been making artisan soap in Rhode Island for nearly four decades. Husband-and-wife team Alice and Cleveland have spent those four decades keeping the tradition of European soap making alive in the United States — one of fewer than ten midsize soap makers remaining in the country. Clean ingredients, traditional methods, the quiet confidence of people who have been doing one thing very well for a very long time.
Grounds and Hounds was built on the idea that great coffee and doing good should not be mutually exclusive. Every bag donates 20% of profits to rescue organizations giving at-risk dogs a second chance. The coffee is organic, small-batch, and genuinely excellent. The mission makes it the easiest gift recommendation we make. You hand someone a bag of Grounds and Hounds and the story tells itself.
Sackcloth and Ashes was founded after Bob Dalton's own mother experienced homelessness in 2013. For every blanket purchased, one is donated to a local homeless shelter. Every single time. The blankets are sustainably made in Italy from recycled materials. They are beautiful and they are used. And every time someone buys one, someone who needed warmth gets it.
Roxie's Barkery began when McKenna — a veterinary assistant — could not find treats good enough for her rescue pup Roxie. She went home and started baking. Her expertise guided every recipe. Roxie was the taste tester. What began as treats for one beloved dog became a local, woman-owned small business making all-natural treats with the kind of care that shows up in every ingredient.
These are six of the vendors whose stories we are proud to tell. Every one was chosen the same way — because something about the story stopped us and we could not move on without it.
The Store Itself
Lykke Living opened at 27 Church Street in Lenox, Massachusetts. The store is deliberately designed to feel like a cabin — warm, unhurried, and full of finds that have reasons to be there. Nothing on the shelves is apologizing for its existence.
We are active members of the Lenox community — Chamber of Commerce, local partnerships, the events that make this town feel like a town rather than just a destination. We believe that a store is not just a place to buy things but a place to gather, to slow down, and to feel briefly connected to something worth caring about.
Dogs are always welcome. There is never any rush. The door is open whenever you are ready.
What Comes Next
Lykke Living is a young store. The shelves are still being discovered — by locals who stop in for the first time and become regulars, by Berkshires visitors who find us and order online for years afterward, by people who receive something from our shelves as a gift and track it back to its source.
We are building The Lykke Journal as a place to share the stories behind what we carry, the slow living practices that animate our choices, and the broader conversation about what it means to build a home and a life with intention.
We ship nationally. We welcome visitors. We answer questions. We are here.
If something on these pages resonates — if a story we have told has given you a reason to stop — we would love to hear from you. Stop into the store, browse online, or simply send us a note. We built this for exactly that kind of connection.
What brings you lykke?
Lykke Living is at 27 Church Street, Lenox, Massachusetts. Open most days — check current hours at lykkeliving.com. Dogs always welcome.
Happiness isn't something you chase — it's something you bring home.
lykkeliving.com | 27 Church Street, Lenox MA