Monday, April 20, 2009

Olivo's on Avenue C

Been meaning to do a post on Olivo's Fashions, a homey and unusual little shop at 55 Avenue C near Fourth Street. It has been here for 36 years, and is a father-son operation. Part of the store is devoted to yarn and fabrics and other things sewing related.

In 2007, though, the store started to be more known as a serious place for video games. In fact, just last Tuesday, Crispy Gamer did a feature on the place titled, "World's Greatest Independent Game Stores: Olivo's Games Depot."

As the second deck of the headline reads, "Welcome to pretty much the only place on earth where you can buy skeins of yarn, adult diapers and a still-shrinkwrapped copy of Rez ($99.99)."

True.

Here's an excerpt from the article, which nicely captures the vibe of Olivo's:

The store is one of those rare, old-time New York places that are almost impossible to find these days. Two-thirds of the store is devoted to yarn, knitting, mannequins, candles, homemade lollipops, porcelain hands designed to hold your rings, and blouses. It's like a thousand five-and-dime stores crammed into 600 square feet. The remaining third -- the front corner of the store -- is devoted to videogames.





And now I buried my lead...I was dismayed to walk by Saturday to see the following...




The elder Mr. Olivo, I believe, was hanging garmets outside on Saturday morning. He said they were closing and had to have everything out of the store. There seemed to be a sense of urgency to this. I went back yesterday to take some photos of the interior and, I hoped, to talk with one of the Olivos. Unfortunately, the gates were down. I'm afraid I'm too late.

6 comments:

  1. yeah, signage is great. wish i hadn't missed this one.

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  2. Haven't been down that way in some time, but that's where I bought all my yarn supplies. Will be a shame to see him go.

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  3. It is sad they are closing after 36 years in business.

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  4. Oh No! That's also the place where the kids buy their homemade "icies" (frozen cups of shaved ice and sugar dayglo dyes- the best in the LES). You could also order pasteles (a Puerto Rican version of tamales) frozen to go by the dozen. This is a major blow.

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  5. I bought a ps3 controller here once and was very glad I stopped in. I believe I bought it from the son, who reminded me that they offer a free can of soda with every game purchase.

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