The End is Near...

Or is it just the beginning? Smith Street, the little street that could. It's been four years since I closed up shop on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn. When I opened up shop in October 1998 it was just my shop and a hand full of boutiques and restaurants on this desolate street - Alan Harding's french bistro Patois, Suzanne Bagdade's chic little handbag store Refinery (who also invented those 718 t-shirts), Area spa and yoga salon, Halcyon's hip hangout/record store, and the jewel box shop Handmade. Smith Street had always been a scary street to walk down on your way to the F train, but slowly but surely as the Manhattanites moved in to town, the street quietly built a following.

But sometimes an entrepreneur can be too early in forecasting a hip neighborhood. I for one, feel like I totally missed the boat, and because of being too early! Over the years, businesses have come and gone since the street never really generated enough traffic to make a living. I closed shop mainly because I was relocating across the country and reassessing the direction of my business, but my complaint was always the lack of traffic. Well today it's a different story to say the least. Smith Street has either gone to hell in a hand basket or is on its way to becoming another Nolita.

On my recent trip to New York for the Coterie trade show, I was able to stroll down memory lane (literally!) Walking down Smith Street from Atlantic Avenue down to where my old boutique was on Carroll Street, I was amazed to see so many new storefronts! I was never fond of the overkill of restaurants on the street to begin with (doesn't always translate to traffic for a clothing store), but now it's totally out of control. In one block, there's easily 8 restaurants (and it's a short block!) But what I was happy to see and wished they had been there when stacia new york was open, were an abundance of chic new clothing stores.

Being one of the few clothing stores on the street from 1998-2004, I got a lot of flack for my prices. Not that my designs, which were custom made on the premises, were anywhere near Manhattan prices ($98 sweaters are not what I call expensive), but there were always a few customers that would gawk at my prices. Well today, they'd really be gawking and thinking my shop was a discount store! I came across two new finds - Bird (they also have an outpost in Park Slope which was around in my era) and Dear Fieldbinder. They both have an exquisite selection of designer duds that you would normally find in Manhattan and pretty much anything I picked up was $285. Not sure who's buying this stuff, but maybe more Manhattanites are transplanting to Brooklyn and not wanting to schlep to Jeffrey's or Barney's anymore. Boy, do I wish those customers were around when stacia new york was open! I was just too early! Damn. Oh well, I'm much happier now focusing on my designs and letting someone else sell the product. Being a boutique owner is hard enough, let alone having to actually design and manufacture the product your selling. I was crazy to think I could do both and do it alone.

So is Smith Street near the end? Or is it the next Nolita? They've got a Starbucks now (usually the first sign of gentrification), an American Apparel store, and a Lucky Brand chain store too. Unfortunately, when you start to get those big chain stores in, the rents go up and the little guys vacate, and then it's the end of an era and the end of quirky little design shops. I guess there's always Red Hook...