Tea Two on 140 Smith Street
MAC at 165 Smith Street now closed
Closed Lucky Jeans at 135 Smith Street
We have all been lamenting the closing of mom and pop stores on Smith and Court Streets here in the the Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens area. And indeed, we have lost many individually owned businesses on our two main shopping strips as chain stores and/or franchises have taken over the spaces.
It was therefore interesting to notice that three chain stores have recently closed on Smith Street alone: Tea Too, MAC and Lucky Jeans.
This particular location was their first in Brooklyn.
If you will miss their tea, they still have a few Manhattan locations.
MAC, the cosmetic chain, moved into the area in 2016 and occupied a large corner retail space at 165 Smith Street. We never saw too many customers in the place and always wondered if there was enough foot traffic in the neighborhood to make it viable.
Perhaps we were right, because the store just closed several weeks ago,
Lucky Jeans, the apparel store, moved into 135 Smith Street around 2010, and seemed to be doing well. We were therefore surprised to see it's doors closed just recently.
If even chain stores, with their deeper pockets are having a tough time making it on Smith Street, we can imagine more retailers closing. with most people purchasing online these days, there simply isn't enough foot traffic in the area to sustain these businesses.
What do you think? What businesses could successfully replace these three?
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10 comments:
I live in the neighborhood,and would love to see a Dollar Tree,or other bargain stores! Some folks just don't have the income to patronize these stores. And those that do have that money,don't seem to spend in these stores!go figure! Seniors especially who are on fixed incomes can't afford these places. We need stores for all income levels.
Unfortunately, the economics of owning a business on Smith St work ONLY IF the business owns the building ala Vinnies or the Bagel Store on President. And even those do very brisk sales.
If you run a shop and are paying $5000+ for rent, plus staff, utilities, insurance, advertising, cost of goods sold, you probably need $20,000 to $30,000 a month in sales just to break even...let alone make a profit.
Only shops that appear to produce that kind of revenue are restaurants.
Sad.
I believe the rents are in the tens of thousands per month. I asked someone years ago about doing a pop-up in a restaurant that had closed they were paying I think 12K and they had signed the lease years ago.
Katia, you had such an interesting post four years ago, a tribute to Bettie Stolz who had sent you a fascinating analysis of the growing local stores / local residents schism. Other readers may appreciate it: https://pardonmeforasking.blogspot.com/2015/11/on-passing-of-bette-stoltz-who-helped.html
She was describing how difficult it is for local stores to thrive given the change in demographics and lifestyle - less foot traffic, people working impossible hours to pay for those rents or mortgages and coming home long after the local butcher shop or specialty store is closed. The same stores don't necessarily extend their hours or deliver, because it's so challenging (or they don't accept credit cards, Apple Pay etc.) No wonder that local working parents use Fresh Direct or Instacart: They barely even see their children and can't fathom shopping with a wad of cash. It seems more difficult to make the local stores match local shoppers' needs and lifestyle.
Just this week-end, the lovely Swallow store just closed on Smith and this is plain sad. The owner was a wonderful lady and her selection of gifts was exquisite. Yet, I couldn't patronize her store as much as I wanted. After rent (falling in the rent-burdened category, technically, like many New Yorkers), there's nor much extra for beautiful things. Or restaurants. Or fancy teas. But I will walk half a mile to go to Mr. Beet to buy affordable fruits and vegetables as a necessity. I would be very interested in hearing how the owners do it on a Smith St, where it seems so difficult for stores to live long. Thank you Katia for keeping us in the loop.
Bette was right! I wish I could support more stores in the neighborhood, but some are just too expensive for me. Others sell merchandise that I am truly not interested in.
I wish we could go back to the times where stores were more varied and really served the neighborhood, like the great fresh food stores we used to have and yes, Winn Discount.
MAC was a mistake. With Sephora a stones throw away. They also test on animals. So no more MAC. Yes I would love a dollar store. Or any kind of discount shop. We don’t have them anymore. Hard to find locally. And any kind of variety shop would be great. Like the place on court used to be. sigh.
Yes the neighborhood has changed in the past 20 years, heck seems like every year its changing. I know these are more restaurants but Mama's Empanadas or the Freakin Rican are killing it in Queens and I think would add something different from the offerings on Smith and Court Streets. I would welcome a Boston Market too. There is plenty of foot traffic but my wife isn't going to buy a $75 blouse or $100 pants when we can go to Target instead. Bagel stores hours are scaling back because business isn't there. Lets see how long the newly opened Malin & Goetz can stay afloat. Sorry to be negative on my great neighborhood but it is what it is.
What about a hardware's store?
Hi there! To Amanda @ 1:43 PM on March 4, try Mazzone's on Court for your hardware needs! They are absolutely wonderful. Kind, helpful, community-oriented. They always (miraculously!) have everything I need, and everyone on staff is a joy. It's a bit of a trek from the MAC/T2/Lucky triangle, but well worth it.
Bet they turn into chain stores that sell chain stores to chain stores. That or a bank or real estate offic.
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