Historic Waterfront Jewel Empire Stores Debuts This Month With Opening of West Elm Flagship

The borough-transforming Empire Stores complex will debut this month when Dumbo-based home furnishings company West Elm opens its flagship store in the massive 150-year-old landmarked coffee warehouse-turned-retail hub. The anchor tenant’s grand opening is set for August 18 at 8 a.m, the retailer revealed in an email Wednesday.

West Elm will be the first tenant to open in the massive and historic 146-year-old complex, which is landmarked. It is leasing a third of the historic building and will also have its offices there.

Other retail tenants — including the Brooklyn Historical Society, which will have a museum space on the second floor — will open for business sometime in early 2017, a spokeswoman for Empire Stores’ developer Midtown Equities told Brownstoner.

The building itself will open to the public “a few months from now,” she added.

Shoppers will enter via West Elm’s exterior entrance, and will not yet be able to explore the rest of the complex.

Abandoned for decades, the waterfront Empire Stores warehouse complex will bring stores, restaurants, offices and a significant amount of public space to the area, including a rooftop garden and stadium seating. The building’s historic facade is being restored, and the roof will be getting a glassy addition.

It will be a major addition to Dumbo and Brooklyn Bridge Park, not to mention a destination for the entire borough.

Related Stories

• Inside the Transformation of Historic Waterfront Jewel Empire Stores in Dumbo
• Empire Stores: From Cargo Warehouse to Ruin to Development Site, 1868 to Present
• Empire Stores Conversion Nearing Finish Line, Releases Renderings, Website

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.