What to Watch: NYC’s New Shopping District Recalls SoHo in the ’90s
Nostalgia for the ’90s is nothing new in fashion, nor in New York City, where the decade is often considered a yesteryear of pre-commercial gentrification.
One quadrant of the Lower East Side is being resettled in a way that’s akin to what many say is how SoHo felt then: a little hamlet of unique shops set up by creatives looking to draw a like-minded community.
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Dubbed in the last five years as Dimes Square — named for the health food café Dimes that serves as a next-gen salon for the neighborhood’s mix of skaters, hipsters and wannabes — the area has in the last six months become a new destination for small boutiques getting their start in what felt like the aftermath of the pandemic.
Their presence adds to what was already a trendy Manhattan restaurant quarter that conveniently has a pedestrian plaza at its center, creating the perfect storm for a see-and-be-seen gathering place in a city struggling to get its energy back.
Running north to south from Delancey Street to East Broadway and bracketed by Allen and Essex Streets, the neighborhood’s rows of empty, petite shopfronts are quickly being snapped up by ambitious storekeepers eager to be part of a new retail era that feels more personal and localized.
Skate shop Labor, streetwear brand Good Company, jeweler The Hunt and contemporary Chinese arts boutique Chop Suey Club were originals in the area, located at the edges of New York’s rapidly dwindling Chinatown. A block of café-style restaurants on Division Street between Orchard and Ludlow Streets had, since Great Recession times, been a quiet retreat for the arts crowd. Circa 2015, others, like Dimes, began to trickle in. And in November 2019 Bode opened a store at 58 Hester Street — kicking off wider retail interest.
Last fall, colorful and quirky housewares boutique Coming Soon moved locations down to Dimes Square proper at 53 Canal Street — flush with new fame that came from the made-for-Instagram home improvement trend, which flourished during the pandemic. In December, designer Sandy Liang opened at 28 Orchard Street. And since last summer, the floodgates have opened: emerging fashion boutique Café Forgot cropped up at 29 Ludlow Street; there was a pop-up from traveling concept shop Beverly’s at 22 Ludlow; hype vintage seller Leisure Center opened at 48 Hester; glitzy accessories brand Susan Alexandra set up at 33 Orchard, and shoppable lifestyle showroom The Break took a fifth-floor space at 62 Allen.
Courtesy of Café Forgot
More is to come: Cult Tucson, Ariz.-based purveyors Desert Vintage are set to open at 34 Orchard Street in March; tracksuit line Suzie Kondi is taking a space at 15 Orchard Street and there are rumors of other brands on the way.
“We liked the energy and sense of community down there,” said Desert Vintage’s Salima Boufelfel, who co-founded the company with partner Roberto Cowan. “We spent time in different neighborhoods and the Lower East Side struck a chord with us. We are excited to open and get to our new community.”
Each store is designed to be environmental and all-consuming, creating a visual experience that harks back to another era of shopping and enables a sense of traveling even when the shops are a mere half-block apart. And more so, they are a reaction against e-commerce — making for an emotional shopping experience that does not translate to a screen.
In mid-November, Tal Silberstein opened his new concept shop Colbo in a 900-square-foot space at 51 Orchard Street. The earth-toned, serene space is equal parts gallery, coffee shop and clothing store and was created as an antidote to Manhattan’s at-times overwhelming energy.
In addition to selling an in-house line, Colbo retails lesser-known labels chosen for their quality and refinement, like Connor McKnight, Hed Mayner and Csillag.
“I think opening a store is something I’ve always been attracted to. I’ve always really been into shopping physical spaces, I’ve never really been an online buyer,” said Silberstein, who previously owned a boutique in Tel Aviv and oversaw creative direction for the Public Records space in Brooklyn. For him, Colbo is a mash-up of personal aesthetic references: the desert tones native to Israel, the laid-back attitude of Los Angeles and the sharp creativity that pervades New York City.
“There are a lot of stores, it’s really popping hard right now — it’s growing really fast,” Silberstein said of the neighborhood in which he set up his new shop.
But much like what became of SoHo, he is realistic about what’s on the horizon: “I’m expecting [bigger brands to open] sooner than later. It’s inevitable at this point. I think there’s an understanding that young professionals, hipsters and tourists are kind of flocking here looking to buy stuff and that gives a potential to bigger brands.”
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