There's been some talk of late that New York Central Art Supply on Third Avenue near East 11th Street is hurting for business. (Jeremiah Moss had a post on this last Thursday.)
"No one is buying art supplies the way they used to," a tipster here told us. "Now that there are so many online shops and NYC is turning into a gigantic mall people aren't going to the little tiny art supply store."
The tipster continued: "Basically it's going under and it's way more of an issue for the employees than the owners. The owners own three buildings, and can make plenty of money for themselves."
We heard that several longtime employees of the store were let go. The Observer reported that the store could close by the end of the year.
DNAinfo had more on this yesterday:
New York Central Art Supply began offering up to 50 percent in discounts on Friday to eliminate its low- and mid-level products so it can focus on more “high-quality, hard-to-find and unique” materials, said Doug Steinberg, whose family has owned the Third Avenue business since 1905.
“We’re going to get away from things you can get anywhere and only focus on stuff you can only get at New York Central Art Supply,” said Steinberg, who insisted the store was not closing, despite rumors.
“We’re just limiting our selection to a highly curated set of materials.”
The owners also plan on renting out their warehouse location around the corner on East 12th Street. Another family property, the New York Central Framing Annex, moved from 102 Third Ave. into the warehouse space in August 2012.
23 comments:
We still buy art supplies we just do it at Blick where there's a better selection, space to move around in, bright, and clean.
New York Central Art Supply has GOT TO GET RID OF ITS CURRENT CHECKOUT PROCESS. Sorry for the caps but I'm hoping the owners see it and take note.
Anonymous 7:49 said...
We still buy art supplies we just do it at Blick where there's a better selection, space to move around in, bright, and clean.
See, that's the problem; Blick is a chain—that even swallowed up the behemoth Utrecht. When Pearl Paint closed, they also lamented that sales of art supplies had become "flat."
Ever since I was a freshman at Cooper Union, I've appreciated New York Central as a place to buy things you couldn't get elsewhere; in my first Drawing and Perception class, Irwin Rubin directed us to go to NY Central to get Artist's Sketch Vellum.
Hate Blick it's too generic for my tastes.NY Central has the BEST paper department in the city!
They have an old fashioned system where you can only buy something if the clerk gets it for you. I went in once to buy a pad of drawing paper and after 10 minutes I gave up. Yes, they were busy, but I only needed a pad of paper and didn't need to have a long life-affirming discussion with the clerk.
Wow! I thought they were closed already. Sorry...
When you walk into NYCentral you are walking into art history. You are literally walking in the footsteps of many famous artists.
That experience alone should make you want to shop here, besides the fact that if you are really an artist and not just a deluded person who thinks they have talent, then this shop is for you. The experience you get from the owners/employees is priceless....that means you don't pay for it.
Let's hope things turn around for them. Maybe some big name artists will support them?
I passed the framing dept. on 12th St. yesterday and saw their sign touting "Warehouse Sale - 50% off" and that gave me pause.
I suspected that moving the framing dept. from 3rd Ave. to the easily-overlooked corner of their warehouse on 12th St. would impact their framing sales. That particular department, in its current location, is bland from the outside, with very little enticement to go in. And perhaps EXCEL Framing gives them competition?
I buy my supplies from Central because the big "warehouse" stores usually offer little help and even less knowledge of what's in stock. If you go to Blick/Utrecht you can wait in line FOREVER just to pay - you'd think those employees were getting a bonus to try to make time run backwards. (This seems to be some quirk of the art supply world in general.)
At least NY Central has employees who KNOW their stock! And their specialty-paper department upstairs is without peer.
That said, perhaps Central could update their labor-intensive & time-intensive "write-out-the-entire-sale-on-a-form, and then take the form to the cashier" system.
I very much hope the owners won't cash out, though I'm sure the temptation to sell and let the warehouse become yet another high-end condo conversion is tempting.
This place couldn't definitely streamline the checkout process, but if it does close, I will miss it. With so many art and design students working digitally, it is hard for any shop, even the bigger chains, to keep brick and mortar stores selling these supplies a viable business.
What difference does it make if a store is a chain store--if they have a wide-selection of materials and if the employees are knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly that should be enough to shop there. What is it that some people want? Close all chain stores and throw more young people out of work? NY Central is a good store--but it is not, and has not been for a number of years an A++++ store (that, in my experience still has to be Sennelier in Paris--I know I open myself up to charges of elitism--but when I've been to Paris that is where I go). I am not quite sure, after following this thread, what the threat is to NY Central. I wish them well, but like some people have commented, there is a gruffness to some of the employees.
Can artists really still afford to live in (move to) this neighborhood? this business needs a branch in outer queens. There's no replenishing of future artist-buyers in this area, so there's nothing for this store to look forward to. Get out while you still can!
Since there are less and less artists that can afford to live here it is little surprise art supply stores are suffering. I liked this store and was always impressed with their inventory but less impressed with their service. Not that is was bad it was just indifferent to customers especially if you are not a regular I assume. Still besides some griping it is yet another loss for the EV and most surely whatever takes its space (if the building survives) will be either a sports bar of luxury housing. Sigh.
@SD I used to shop at Pearl before they closed. They had space and basically anything an artist could need. I'd rather shop at a local store but my biggest complaint with New York Central is it's crammed, they have limited merchandise, and I don't want to be dependent on staff to get things for me.
"When you walk into NYCentral you are walking into art history. You are literally walking in the footsteps of many famous artists."
I'm not there for history. I'm there to shop. If they don't have what I need, or the staff slows me down, I'll do so someplace else.
if you don't understand why NY central is a better shop than blick, you should not be making art
@8:09 Could you BE any more pretentious? lol
8:09 is far from pretentious. Blick is geared for hobbiests and art students while NY Central is for the more serious artist. Not to mention their handmade papers, a large selection which can't be found anywhere.
Ah, homemade paper. No there's something I use a lot of. Now that my tenement has gas lighting, I really enjoying the art of paper folding. It gets me through the long nights I'm up worrying about TB.
Re: 9:15pm I don't like the "we'll get it for you" policy because it's hard sell with an unknown price and no one hard sells me with an unknown price. If you're gonna get it for me, I need to know the price right off the bat. How 'bout I just get it myself? There's being helpful and being pushy - getting it for me when I could get it myself is being pushy because what if I don't want it? Don't blame me - if you had let me look at it myself you wouldn't have wasted time getting it for me for me to decide not to buy it. I wouldn't want someone to get something for me because I'd feel bad if I didn't buy it cuz the price is too much (as I know it's store policy for the worker to get the item for me not the worker's own volition.)
Sounds more like a museum than a store.
You have to be seven kinds of cheap to not keep them in business.
OMG Anon 7am - I was laughing for about ten minutes from yr post.
I've been buying my supplies at starvinartist.com for years.
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