After 21 Years, Iconic Brooklyn Boutique Bird Closes Park Slope Store But Others Will Keep Going

Clothing boutique Bird has permanently closed its Park Slope store, its first, after 21 years in the neighborhood. Its other locations, in Fort Greene, Cobble Hill and Williamsburg, will reopen, according to a sign posted on the window.

“This is devastating and catastrophic and there’s no end in sight to what the real economic impact is going to be on all of us,” owner Jen Mankins commented on an Instagram thread about the state-ordered shutdown in March.

“We had hoped to serve the neighborhood a little bit longer and say our proper goodbyes, but unfortunately the timing of COVID-19 left us with the difficult decision to shut our doors sooner than anticipated,” Bird Director of Buying, Strategy and Personnel Jenny Lee told Brownstoner. “We loved every minute of the 21 years that Bird called Park Slope home. Our wonderful friends and customers made the experience so much fun, inspiring, and kept us going all these years.”

She confirmed the retailer plans to reopen its other three temporarily closed locations. The online shop is open for business and filling orders. (An outpost that opened in Culver City in Los Angeles in 2017 closed in January.)

The iconic shop is known for its casual and arty Brooklyn vibe, with labels such as Rachel Comey and Isabel Marant, and influential interiors by onetime Ditmas Park resident and Norwegian architect Ole Sondresen. Mankins, who previously worked at Barneys and Steven Alan, blogged the 2008 buildout of the Williamsburg store on Brownstoner.

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