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Clothing and Skate Shop Opening on Surf Avenue
The Long Island-based clothing company and skate shop Wampum is opening this summer off the Coney Island boardwalk. Wampum picked up a space at 1232 Surf Avenue, right across from Nathan’s Hot Dogs, and will feature a variety of Wampum products, including shirts made in New York and hats made in California. You can check out the collection, which features distinctive prints, here. The store will open Memorial Day weekend and close Labor Day weekend. This will be the third location; the two other stores are in Bridgehampton and SoHo.
Photo via Facebook
05/06/2013 2:00 PM
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Furniture Retailer Opens on Fulton Mall
Furniture retailer Raymour & Flanigan is open on the Fulton Mall. The store opened about a month ago, said a spokesman for the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. The 490 Fulton Street location is the company’s third outpost in Brooklyn. Other retailers on the street include Express, Brooklyn Industries and Armani Exchange.
NYT: National Retailers Flock to Fulton Mall [Brownstoner] GMAP
04/24/2013 2:00 PM
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Outdoor Supply Store Opens on Atlantic
A reader sent in a photo with the info that Hatchet Outdoor Supply Co. opened last week at 77 Atlantic Avenue. The store sells outdoor gear, camping supplies and men’s clothing. It is located on the corner of Hicks in the space previously occupied by Perfect Renovation, now at 103 Atlantic. GMAP (more…)
04/19/2013 2:00 PM
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Plant Nursery Opening Soon in Clinton Hill
A new garden center is going in at 1010 Fulton Street near Downing in Clinton Hill, according to a reader who sent us these pics. Named the Fort Greene Garden Center, it’s under construction and set to open May 1. The formerly vacant lot was also home to a tree giveaway in 2010, pictured after the jump. GMAP (more…)
04/18/2013 2:00 PM
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Bicycle Roots Coming to Nostrand
Looks like Crown Heights is getting a bike shop. A tipster sent in this photo of a sign that just went up at 609 Nostrand (between Bergen and Dean), promising “Bicycle Roots,” a “full-service bike shop” coming soon. It replaces a nail salon. Think this will be a useful addition to the neighborhood? GMAP
04/04/2013 2:00 PM
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Fresh Fish, Organic Produce Market Opens in Williamsburg
Grocery store Brooklyn Harvest Market opened Monday at the corner of North 5th and Kent in the Edge in Williamsburg. From the outside, it looks like it could be a regular bodega, but the store is sizable at 15,000 square feet and, according to our tipster who sent in the shot above, carries “very high quality produce” and has “very good fish and meat counters.” Not counting Fresh Direct deliveries, there isn’t too much genuinely fresh fresh available in this neck of the woods — our favorite is the fish stand at the Saturday McCarren farmers market — so this could be a real boon to the area. Has anyone checked it out yet? GMAP
04/03/2013 2:00 PM
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One Salvation Army Building Still Stands
The second building at 176 Bedford Avenue is still standing, although its floors are completely open to the elements. The main building at 176 Bedford Avenue, which until recently housed Williamsburg’s Salvation Army store, is now completely demolished. As previously reported, the Salvation Army is constructing an entirely new building on the site, and it will remain a Salvation Army store. (more…)
04/03/2013 10:00 AM
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Wallabout Warehouse Complex to Become Hotel
The gigantic Wallabout property on the corner of Ryerson and Flushing right across from the Brooklyn Navy Yard has been snapped up and will be developed into a hotel as well as retail and office space, according to a story in The Real Deal. Buyer Ryerson Equity of Borough Park is in contract for $26.25 million, according to the story. “The buyer expects to lease three floors to an entity that will operate a 200-room hotel, two floors to an executive suites company, and two floors to a gym, while the ground floor will be retail,” said the paper. “The sale went into contract Feb. 27 and is expected to close in mid-May…The plan also calls for a rooftop deck and bar, to be affiliated with the hotel.” A bidding war increased the contract price slightly above the ask of $26 million. Hotels are going into every Brooklyn neighborhood now; it should be interesting to see what effect this development has on nightlife in the area. GMAP
Clinton Hill Warehouse, Slated for Transformation, in Contract for $26M [TRD]
Huge Industrial Site for Sale in Wallabout [Brownstoner]
03/21/2013 9:00 AM
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Startups Big in Brooklyn
Brooklyn is a hotbed of startups — not so much digital ones, though there are those, but food based ones. A report this week from the Center for an Urban Future said 19,351 companies launched in Brooklyn in 2011, up 5 percent from the year before, reported The New York Daily News. In other boroughs, the number of startups decreased since the recession began in 2007. “Brooklyn has become a real entrepreneurial epicenter for New York City,” said report author Jonathan Bowles. The types of businesses launched encompass almost every possible category, including food, film, law, furniture and the Internet. Above, food vendors and patrons at the Red Hook Ball Fields. Regulation and a lack of office space could slow the boom, according to the report.
Startups Booming in Brooklyn, Even During Recession [NY Daily News]
Photo by Carl Tashian
03/14/2013 9:30 AM
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Burg Factory Conversion Now Renting
Shrouded in scaffolding since the summer of 2011, 641 Driggs Avenue is almost finished and the ground floor retail space and upstairs apartments are available for rent. When we passed by, we saw some workers putting some final touches on the exterior. The building sold for $7 million in 2010. The developer removed the paint from the brick and put in larger windows. He also toned down the cornice. Now called the Marbleworks Lofts, apparently this triangular shaped building was once a stone cutting factory built sometime around the turn of the last century. Two-bedrooms start at $3,450 a month.
641 Driggs Listing [Le Blanc]
641 Driggs Sells for $7 Million [Brownstoner]
Development Watch: 641 Driggs Avenue [Brownstoner]
03/08/2013 10:00 AM
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Urban Outfitters, Anthro Sign in Burg
The rumors you heard are true: Anthropologie is moving into Williamsburg. “It’s a match made in hipster heaven,” said Crain’s New York, which broke the story. They’re negotiating a lease for a 10,000-square-foot store at 242 Bedford Ave., the same retail complex where Whole Foods will be located between North 3rd and North 4th streets. (Above, an old rendering of the formerly stalled complex.) But that’s not all: Urban Outfitters has already signed at 102 North 6th Street between Berry and Wythe streets, next door to American Apparel. As you may recall, J. Crew is also rumored to be looking nearby. Other potential tenants for the Bedford complex, which will open next year, are Joe Fresh, New York Sports Club, and — drumroll, please — Citibank. (For those keeping track, Crain’s notes rents range from $185 to $225 a square foot on Bedford and from $70 to $100 a square foot on the side streets.) Well, there goes the neighborhood. Now we won’t ever need to leave Brooklyn again.
Hip Retailing Duo Flirts With Billyburg [Crain's]
03/05/2013 11:00 AM
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Bars Near Barclays Center Booming, Others, Not So Much
Over the weekend the Daily News took a look at how businesses around the Barclays center are faring since the arena opened this fall. They found that bars, some more than a mile from the arena are seeing a significant boost in income from fans stopping by before the game. The co-manager of Brooklyn Tap House on Myrtle and Classon in Clinton Hill, two miles away, told the News, “we get the pre-game crowd. We aren’t even in walking distance.” Some restaurants are also seeing increased business, but only for concerts. But many more businesses are feeling left out in the cold, like the owner of Cake Ambiance on Dean Street: “People don’t know about the area. They don’t walk around, and the train is right there. There are bakeries in there. Junior’s is in there. Starbucks is in there. There is this thing about [Barclays] helping the locals – that’s dream land.” Villanova University sports sociologist Rick Eckstein who co-wrote Public Dollars, Private Stadiums, says that these early spending trends are likely to influence the future of the neighborhoods around the arena: “You have to play to the crowd. When you have thousands of people coming in, you give them something to drink, not a hardware store. My guess is the corner stores and mom-and-pop shops won’t be around in a few years.” Have you noticed any changes in the kinds of businesses prospering around the arena?
Big Bucks off Barclays? Bars Happy, Clothing Shops Frustrated [NY Daily News]
NY Mag: Is Barclays Center a Success? [Brownstoner]
NYT Reviews Barclays Center and Its Context [Brownstoner]
02/04/2013 11:40 AM
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Big Retail Changes in Store for Williamsburg
According to the Wall Street Journal, Williamsburg is in for a massive expansion of retail space. Heritage Equity Partners has bought an entire block — 80,000 square feet — bounded by Wythe Avenue, Kent Avenue, North 13th Street and North 14th Street. The property reportedly sold for over $30 million. Heritage Equities has been busy in the area. In June the firm’s CEO, Toby Moskovits, announced that Heritage was planning a 50-unit rental building at 310 North 7th St. as well as a hotel at 96 Wythe Avenue. According to the broker, Gabriel Saffioti, the firm is planning a Chelsea-Market style development. But that’s not all. “Parking will be a big element, and it has great retail potential possibly for a big-box tenant,” he told the Journal. Is Williamsburg ready for a big box store?
More retail is on the way further south on Wythe Avenue. According to Curbed, 92,000 square feet of retail space just came on the market at $50 a square foot at 185 Wythe. It will be inside a residential conversion.
Hefty Block Sale in Williamsburg [WSJ] GMAP
Something Glassy Headed for Williamsburg’s Wythe Avenue? [Curbed] GMAP
Demo to Make Way for a Williamsburg Boutique Hotel [Brownstoner] GMAP
01/23/2013 9:00 AM
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Intermix, Now Owned by Gap, to Open in Brooklyn
Intermix, which the Gap acquired Monday, plans to open a store somewhere in Brooklyn this year, according to Women’s Wear Daily. The contemporary and designer women’s clothing boutique started on lower 5th Avenue in the Flatiron district and now has 30 locations in the U.S. and Canada. Prices run about $200 to $700 for labels such as Chloe, Theory and Stella McCartney. In April, Racked reported a rumor the chain was eyeing locations in Downtown Brooklyn. Despite growing income in some parts of the borough, few such stores exist here. Barneys Co-op on Atlantic Avenue and Bird carry merchandise with similar prices but a different mix of designers.
Gap Inc. Acquires Intermix for $130M [WWD]
Intermix’s Bowery Store Will Be Followed by One in Brooklyn [Racked]
Photo of an Intermix store window by Typotheque
01/04/2013 11:30 AM
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Brooklyn Daily Investigates the Organic Christmas Tree
From Brooklyn Daily comes this surprising report that most Christmas trees are conventionally grown with synthetic fertilizer to promote fast growth and pesticides to prevent insect damage. But some growers, such as Vermont-based Adam Parke Trees, use organic methods. In addition to being easier on the environment, organically raised trees have another benefit: They last 50 percent longer than the conventionally grown ones, according to Adam Parke, which sells trees in several locations in brownstone Brooklyn.
Oh Christmas Tree How Organic Are Your Branches? [Brooklyn Daily]
Photo by pamcrowley77
12/11/2012 12:00 PM
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Cinema Signs Lease at City Point
Texas movie chain Alamo Drafthouse Cinema plans to open a location in Downtown Brooklyn at City Point in 2015, The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend. The Austin-based business is known for table service and shows a mix of indie and mainstream first-run movies. A 900-seat, seven-screen theater is planned for the as-yet-unbuilt portion of the City Point development known as Phase II, where the DeKalb Market used to be. Table service for drinks and food is getting to be quite a trend since Governor Cuomo OK’d serving alcohol in theaters last year. Nitehawk, Videology, and indieScreen offer it in Williamsburg, as does the reRun Gastropub movie theater in Dumbo. Alamo is also planning outposts on the Upper West Side and in Yonkers. The theater has been known to hold themed events such as ’80s singalongs and movies paired with a special menu, the Journal noted. Above, a rendering of the City Point main entrance with future tenants’ signage. Click through to the jump for a rendering of the building where the cinema will be located. (more…)
12/03/2012 2:00 PM
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By Robert James Opens in Williamsburg
Manhattan men’s clothier By Robert James has opened a second store in Williamsburg, at 241 Bedford Avenue. Known for his locally made slim shirts with rounded collars and other tailored menswear designs, he has been operating since 2008 on the Lower East Side. That’s James, above left, in the hat in front of the new store. GMAP
Photo via Robert James
11/29/2012 2:00 PM
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Brooklyn Industries to Open Shop in Ditmas Park
Ditmas Park Corner blog brings word that Brooklyn-born messenger bag and clothing maker Brooklyn Industries plans to open an outpost at 1420 Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park. This will be the eighth Brooklyn location for the retailer (16th in total), which started in Williamsburg and is now based in Dumbo. The firm chose this location because “a lot of customers who purchase our stuff actually live in Ditmas Park and have been making the trek to our store in Park Slope,” said a spokesman quoted by the Brooklyn Paper.
Yes, Brooklyn Industries Is Coming to Cortelyou Road Later This Month [DPC]
Brooklyn Industries to Open in Ditmas Park [Brooklyn Paper]
Photo by Ditmas Park Corner
11/27/2012 2:00 PM
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Locals Protest Armani Exchange Store at City Point
Shoppers and protesters greeted the opening of the A/X Armani Exchange store in City Point in Downtown Brooklyn Saturday, reported the Local blog of the New York Times. Signs carried by protesters said the upscale retail development is a waste of taxpayer money. “This isn’t for us. Why would we support something we can’t afford?” asked Farragut Houses resident Nashaun Taylor, a protester with Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, or FUREE. “This store represents gentrification.” Union members from sheet metal workers Local 361 also participated, and said the developers had not used union labor to construct the building. A City Point spokesman responded that more than 80 percent of the construction jobs during Phase I went to workers from Brooklyn, and that more than half of the contractors used on the project were women- or minority-owned businesses. Armani Exchange is the first store to open at the center. Century 21 plans to open there by 2015.
Armani Opening Spurs Local Protest [NY Times]
Photo by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership
11/21/2012 9:00 AM
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Grumpy Bert Shop and Gallery Moves to Boerum Hill
Grumpy Bert, a store and art gallery that got its start inside a shipping container at the now-shuttered Dekalb Market, will have its grand opening in a permanent location in Boerum Hill this Saturday at 7 pm. They offer gifts, toys, art prints, books, magazines and clothing at 82 Bond Street. The space will also host art shows, writing workshops and other events. Above, a photo of the new store that has been put through a filter. The little dog is real and his name is Remy. GMAP
11/08/2012 2:00 PM
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ziggy
May 16, 2013 | 09:04 AM