Three Chain Stores Close On Smith Street

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.

Tea Too, or simply T2, originally opened at 140 Smith Street in late in 2015, It closed its doors just last week. The premium tea chain was founded in Australia almost twenty years ago. During this time, the company expanded to New Zealand, London and recently in Soho, New York.
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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After 33 Years On Smith Street 'Smith Hanten Real Estate' Will be Moving

The turnover of commercial tenants on Smith Street has accelerated in the past few months, as some long time restaurants have closed or moved.  The few remaining mom-and-pop are disappearing quickly and more corporate tenants have been moving in.  Now, ironically,  Smith Hanten Realty, one of the real estate agencies that helped turn little sleepy Smith Street into a vibrant commercial strip will soon have to move from their storefront at 165 Smith Street in Boerum Hill.
A letter in the window written to the community by head realtor Peter McGuire reads:

Smith Hanten is moving after 33 years in the same location,  Our store lease expired in May, 2013, and we have been month to month tenants since that time.  The only constant we know in life is change and in some ways we are a victim of our own hard work and success. 

As you look around Smith Street now almost every building has a commercial store whereas in the early 1980's when Ed Gerrity started this agency there were a lot of apartments on the ground floor because nobody wanted to open a business.  Subsequently, Ed found out that his ancestor James Gerrity (his Great Grand Uncle) worked as a Book binder in 165 Smith Street during the 1890's- 'tis a small world indeed. 

By the time I joined in 2001, Smith Street was in full swing and when I purchased the agency in 2008 a number of corporate tenants had moved onto this street.  It is highly likely that the next tenant in this store will be a corporate giant quoted on the stock exchange instead of a "mom and pop". 

We love and live in Brownstone Brooklyn and we believe the future is very bright so we never seriously considered closing our doors for a minute- our continuing mission is to provide housing solutions for landlords and renters and create wealth for buyers and sellers while earning a percentage commission (we are not communists, after all)- please keep in touch and visits us in our new location:-----between------and --------or please visit our website www. smithhanten.com or follow us on Twitter @ smithhanten. 

Thank you for your patronage and friendship over the years. It has been a true pleasure to make your acquaintance in 165 Smith Street and we hope to see you in our new location listed above. 

Peter McGuireLicensed Real Estate Broker

Obviously, Smith Hanten's new location still needs to be announced. Let us hope this long time business will stay nearby.  McGuire is probably right in predicting that 165 Smith Street will soon have a new 'corporate' tenant.  After all, it is a desirable corner store that will fetch very high rent.
Stay tuned.





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Find A Penny, Pick It Up...And Make Art: Paintings By Mike Worthington On Display On Smith Street

There are those who would ignore and walk past a penny found on the sidewalk. Then there are others who bend down and put it in their pocket. And then, there is artist Mike Worthington who incorporates his found coins in mini paintings that reflect the location and time were they were found.

You can see his Lucky Penny series on display in the window at Smith Hanten at 165 Smith Street.

My favorite is the Nathan's/ Coney Island Lucky Penny.

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