Monday, June 12, 2017

Bonobos Latest National Retailer To Open Store On Court Street In Brooklyn

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photo credit: agorafy.com

Once upon a time, the storefront at 173 Court Street was home to Cobble Hill Animal Clinic, but after the four story building between Bergen and Dean Street sold for $5,250,000 in May 2015,
the clinic left and the building underwent a complete renovation.
Shorty afterwards, the 1,500 sqft (plus basement) retail space was advertised for $25,000 per month, it was clear that only a large national chain could afford the space.
Bonobos, a men's clothing brand, is currently in the process of turning the storefront into its first Brooklyn "guideshop location".  (There are already five in Manhattan.) Customers will be able to find their fit at the store, chose their clothes and "walk out hands free." Bonobos will send the items to the customer's home.
Interestingly, Wal-Mart is apparently close to purchasing Bonobos for $300 million, according to Bloomberg News and other news sources.

Bonobo is joining other national retailers who have already set up shop nearby on Court Street close to Atlantic Avenue such as Rag & Bone, Splendid, Marine Layer, and Jacadi Paris, not to mention Trader Joe's, Benefit, Chipotle and Starbucks, of course.

Do you have any thoughts on this?  


7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Call me traditional, but I've always felt that if one wants to buy fancy clothes, they'll go to Manhattan to do it. And if one wants to buy fancy clothes in the convenience of their own neighborhood, they will live in Manhattan. That seems to be changing quite a bit. I feel differently about chains like Trader Joe's because access to reasonably priced groceries is always nice.

Anonymous said...

Hahha. Guide shop. Yes we in brooklyn need guidance to dress like eurotrash. Hahha

neil said...

This is great for me personally, since I actually buy from this place. I hate shopping, and here I can just try things on, great attitude and service, and once you know your size, everything fits the same. I wouldn't call these fancy clothes, and definitely are a bit basic if that's what you need - good office clothes. Given the demographic of that stretch of Court Street, this makes sense. On the other hand, I was sad to see Dr. Maddox and his great office close, and if there was a locally owned shop that could afford to take the place, I'd much prefer that, but the dominoes started falling a long time ago.

Anonymous said...

i am 60 so all of these higher end retailers seem totally useless. i have yet to see any crowd in Rag and Bone, so i think that they will all ultimately fail and we will wind up with vacant overpriced storefronts like the west village
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/31/fashion/bleecker-street-shopping-empty-storefronts.html

SoleCable said...

what is interesting is that bonobos is primarily an online retail company - which means that have tons of analytics and data around where their consumers actually live. It is likely they chose court street because they found that a large number of their online purchases were made form cobble hill.

Also - though rag and bone is always empty, the company owner lives down the street on baltic in that crazy townouse/building on the corner.

Anonymous said...

Boring Cobble Hil.

Anonymous said...

Walmart will now be in Brooklyn! Egads! Staff the barricades!
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/16/business/walmart-bonobos-merger.html