After 21 years on E. 9th Street in the East Village, Archangel Antiques closed this weekend.
The owners decided it was enough, time to retire. Also, the lease was up, and you know how that goes.
Oh That Sherry reported: "They cannot keep up with the increased rent. Besides competition with other vintage clothing stores in the area, East Village’s demographic is mostly students. Generally speaking, students do not have money or taste. Gail argues that to buy vintage, 'you have to have a little sense of adventure, style, and be willing to stand out a bit.' While there is nothing wrong with buying what everyone else is wearing from H&M or Urban Outfitters, she adds that 'Young people just don’t have a sense of personal style.'"
Archangel was a great spot to browse and buy, making selections from their large collection of buttons (over a million), or cufflinks, maybe an old LIFE magazine. It was also fun to chat with its manager Michael Duggan, who certainly does have a sense of style and is unlikely to shop at Urban Outfitters. As he told the Times in 2011:
“The other week I was at the Waverly Inn sitting at a table near Puff Daddy and Ivanka Trump, and people kept looking over at me and asking, ‘Who is that guy?’"
Another piece of character gone from the neighborhood.
4 comments:
And so it goes... on and on and on.
Heartbreaking. I await the inevitable "woo" bar that will take its place. Another stop on the Santa Con, mayhap?
Love the quoye: 'young people.just don't have a sense of personal style' sounds ready to retire and call it a day I like how the competition from other stores was downplayed plus usually these places are expensive after rent who can splurge.on this stuff are lots of these places closing or just her- prob a bar here neney
Back in the 70's when NYC was broke and people didn't come here, rents were dirt cheap, and the stores were really cool. Now it's the opposite. The landlords don't want permanent businesses in there buildings. They want to jack the rent up to the highest possible amount, and people keep moving here. Why? Because the City is safe now. Because most of America is boring and stupid. Because the new stores think they're going to somehow make a sizable profit. Forget it. They don't stand a chance. The landlord is going to squeeze them for every penny they can get. The only answer is to boycott Manhattan property. Break the landlord's backs and then maybe they'll lighten up with the crazy rents.
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