Luxury Consignment Shop The Real Real Opens in Former BookCourt Space in Cobble Hill

The Real Real, a luxury consignment shop, has opened up their first Brooklyn store in Cobble Hill Tuesday.

It is the fashion store’s twelfth shop, and the fourth in New York City (the other three are located in Manhattan).

Located at 163 Court Street, it takes the place of BookCourt, the beloved local bookstore that closed in 2016 after 35 years in business. Work next door at 161 Court Street was finished in 2019, including the replacement of the wooden storefront with modern glass and stucco. Suit maker Indochino opened in the space the same year.

Following the closing of BookCourt (both 161 and 163 Court were sold by the owners to Eastern Capital for $13.6 million soon after), a modern, vertical addition was added to the building, pushing it to four stories. Above the ground-level retail space, which now has a storefront of metal and glass, are six residential units.

The original three-story wooden home and store was probably built between 1842 and 1850, according to a report by Columbia University preservation graduate student Mayssa Jallad. One of the few remaining wood frames of its age in the area — and possibly the only one built as a store — it was in remarkably good condition and contained a wealth of historic detail inside and out.

This stretch of Court Street, once dedicated to neighborhood shops, now boasts a number of affordable fashion e-commerce sites that are moving into brick and mortar, including the aforementioned Indochino next door to The Real Real, as well as Bonobos at 173 Court Street, which took the place of the former Cobble Hill Animal Clinic.

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