The $29,000 Question: Big Box Watch on Flatbush Ave
A couple of days ago the mystery was revealed: the new tenant in the space occupied for years by beloved local video rental store Video Edge is gonna be…ta da! T-Mobile. Just what we need! Mr. Won Ton is ecstatic that he now has five choices of mobile phone stores within a five minute stroll…
A couple of days ago the mystery was revealed: the new tenant in the space occupied for years by beloved local video rental store Video Edge is gonna be…ta da! T-Mobile.
Just what we need! Mr. Won Ton is ecstatic that he now has five choices of mobile phone stores within a five minute stroll of his front door–who needs a butcher when you’ve got extra minutes?
The scuttlebutt at the recent North Flatbush Avenue BID meeting is that T-Mobile is paying $29,000 a month rent on this sucker, or about four times what Video Edge had to cough up.
(Mr. WonTon misses Andy and Rommel of VE…who had such great taste, not to mention a massive collection of his favorite old skool martial arts flicks.)
My $29,000 question is: How is it that T-Mobile can afford to do business on Flatbush and 7th with such high overhead?
Answer (from my local real estate guy): They’re bad, they’re nationwide! They don’t have to make a profit in this location. “It’s all about placement. They pay for the visibility.”
Hmmm. I guess that’s why American Apparel is able to keep going in our old Plaza Twin Cinema by selling a couple of t-shirts a day.
Lots of empty storefronts sitting for a l-o-n-g time on North Flatbush these days…greedy landlords hoping to cash in on the big box store tip, I guess. Hey, we still don’t have a Starbucks!
Why is it that the landlord is constanly demonized on this site? Oh, I know, it’s because the site is full of bitter renters and that landlords are too busy counting their money to give a good god dam what people are writing about here.
signed
Happy landlord
yeah, too bad about american apparel…
HELL’S KITCHEN & BEYOND—With their Ninth Avenue store now a month old, American Apparel is looking to expand further north and west. Via the company’s website, we’ve discovered that Dov and his merry batch of headband-wearing associates are planning to open stores in Harlem (250 W 125th St between Seventh and Eighth Aves) and on the UWS (2103 Broadway at 73rd St). And of course there’s also the pending F.I.T. location at 347 Seventh Ave. Give in, they’ve won. [RackedWire]
whoever said that place is 29K is sadly mistaken.
i’m really not sure where you got that number from. it’s way off base. it’s expensive, but it’s not anywhere near 29K a month.
I so wanted to one day buy that property for my self where I could sell my clothing , but I couldnt not imagine Paying 29k per month for that spot , but it is a good locaction .
“I am appalled but wish I was the landlord,, brooklyn is becoming like some strip mall in ohio..”
Hey, I resent your anti-Ohio comment!
Holy shit…a company only around for 11 years is being sold for almost 400 MILLION DOLLARS!!!
jeez…sounds impressive to me.
oh and who cares, 10:25?
all stores are suffering. jcpenny, gap, old navy, everything.
what is your point?
many MANY stores are seeing revenue go down these days. i’d say 7% increase is pretty darn good.
you are kinda dumb, aren’t ya?
American Apparel to Be Sold to Investment Firm – New York Times
By ANDREW ROSS SORKIN and MICHAEL BARBARO
American Apparel, the casual clothing chain whose socially conscious manufacturing, sexually charged advertising and snug-fitting T-shirts have generated a cultlike following, will be sold to a little-known investment firm for $382.5 million, according to people briefed on the matter.
The decision to sell the privately held company, expected to be announced today, is a surprise move by the company’s eccentric founder, Dov Charney, who is known for exercising strict, and at times controversial, control over the retailer’s operations.
Mr. Charney, who grew up in Montreal, has personally photographed many of the semi-naked women featured in American Apparel advertising and is known for hiring employees, most of them women, on the spot during telephone calls or at parties.
American Apparel’s buyer, the Endeavor Acquisition Corporation, is a small, publicly traded investment group created last year, with less than $125 million in assets. American Apparel is the firm’s first acquisition — and Endeavor is expected the chain across the globe.
Endeavor Acquisition was founded as a so-called “blank check†firm, intended to buy companies, by Jonathan J. Ledecky, who started U.S. Office Products in 1994, expanding it through 260 acquisitions. U.S. Office Products filed for bankruptcy protection in 2001, a few of years after Mr. Ledecky left.
Mr. Charney, 37, will remain chief executive of American Apparel after the sale, according to people with direct knowledge of the deal, who discussed the transaction on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
American Apparel, founded in 1997 in Los Angeles, quickly became a retail sensation, with 145 stores and Gap-like ubiquity with seven stores in Los Angeles and 15 in New York City.
But its sales have slowed significantly in the last year. At stores open at least a year, a crucial measure in retailing, revenue rose only 7 percent in 2006, compared with 74 percent in 2004 and 45 percent in 2005, according to documents prepared by Endeavor. 2007 was the worst year on record with revenue loss. The sale is to avoid bankruptcy.
i walked by video edge every day for about 7 years.
never once had the desire or need to go in.
i’ll be more apt to go into t-mobile and they aren’t even my wireless carrier.
Since you don’t even know how to spell American Apparel, I don’t think I’ll listen to your predictions for their future prospects.