By Jorge Perezchica
photography by Brelinda
When you walk into Damaged Goods Punk Shop in Palm Desert, the energy hits you instantly. It’s loud, vibrant, and unapologetically alive. The walls pulse with optical designs and bursts of color, colliding with thrifted furniture and hand-painted floors—a carefully chaotic vision built entirely by hand. “It’s definitely my world,” says Veronika, the artist and designer behind the brand. “Colorful with lots of black and white optical design. I truly wanted to make a fun place for everyone to enjoy.”
Her connection to the desert became both muse and metaphor. Years later, while living in Europe, nostalgia for that strange beauty started pulling her back to her roots. “It started when I moved away and was living in Europe when I became more fond of my early years growing up in the desert,” she says. “Death Valley always stood out to me as a kid like it was this place that was kinda mysterious and dark.”
In 2014, while working in a London tattoo shop surrounded by creatives, she decided to reclaim her own artistic path. “I was really inspired to get back to my work as a painter and create something that really made me happy,” she says. “I had always been interested in fashion and design and made my own clothes growing up, so I started blending those mediums—not knowing I would eventually create a brand.”
She called it Death Valley—a name that paid tribute to where she came from while captivating Europeans already fascinated by California’s desert mystique. “It was a nod to my roots,” she explains. “And it sounds really freaking cool, so why not have a badass name for your brand?”
After a decade abroad—four years in the U.K. and six in Germany—she made the difficult decision to return to California and build something tangible. “I knew I really wanted to have my own shop one day incorporating Death Valley, but that seemed very difficult in a foreign country with no family support system,” she says. “I struggled with the decision for about a year, and in that year I grew more and more homesick. In the end, what drew me back was the plan to open a physical store and be back where I felt I had more opportunities.”
Those opportunities crystallized in Damaged Goods, her first brick-and-mortar shop. It’s not just retail—it’s a living art installation. “The space itself is all DIY,” she says proudly. “I thrifted the furniture, customized everything myself, I hand painted the floor—I truly put blood, sweat, and tears into this place, and it’s an extension of me and my art.”
That DIY ethos is the heartbeat of Damaged Goods. The shop’s aesthetic merges California nostalgia with European edge—a mix she honed overseas but didn’t fully recognize until she came home. “Growing up in California in the ’80s and ’90s molded my work immensely—the colors, the vibes, the style,” she says. “I feel like maybe I didn’t know that was my style until I was living in Europe. Damaged Goods Punk Shop is all my experiences coming together in one place.”
When she opened the doors, she didn’t know what to expect. “I put a lot of faith in my vision. I really had no idea if it was going to work,” she admits. “All I knew was that I would have loved to have a store like this when I was growing up here—and I knew there had to be kids like me out here wanting it too. So far it’s been really well received, people love it, and I’m so happy.”
For her, punk has always meant more than ripped denim or loud guitars—it’s about community and authenticity. “For me, punk is all about supporting each other and your community,” she says. “I carry a lot of handmade pieces by other artists, and I just hosted a Punk Art Show with guest vendors in the shop. I really hope to host a punk market here in the parking lot—with local bands, DJs, tattoo artists, and maybe even a drag show too.”
As she looks ahead, she doesn’t think punk needs to reinvent itself—it simply needs to keep living loud. “I’m not sure punk needs any reinvention,” she says. “It’s a true testament to the ones that live this lifestyle every day that the heart and the ethos stay rooted in what it’s always been—rebellion and standing up to what’s fucked in this world, being true to yourself and taking up space.”
Her inspirations mirror that defiant energy. “All my fellow hand screen printers out there killing it, and the alt drag queens,” she says with a grin. “The desert is always bursting with artists and people creating their own scenes because you have to out here—that’s why it’s such a unique place.”
After traveling through 19 countries, her life now revolves around her shop and her dog—a rhythm that feels right. “It’s amazing,” she says. “It feels like all my hard work actually meant something and it got me to this point.”
When asked what she hopes people take away from Damaged Goods, her answer captures it perfectly: “Hopefully the experience—and that they want to tell their friends and come back.”
If punk had a flavor? “Leather and sweat,” she laughs.
And if she had to describe herself in three words? “Passionate, resilient, and fun.”
Follow: @damagedgoodspunkshop
Website: www.deathvalleyltd.com