[Photo by Steven]
Housewares shop Basics Plus is closing at 91 Third Ave. and 12th Street. A store employee told EVG correspondent Steven that
The going-out-of-business signs in the front windows direct future Basics Plus shoppers to the location on University at 13th Street. (Also, everything in the store is 20 percent off, per the signage.)
Not sure at the moment why his outpost, which opened here in August 2014, is shutting down. It seems like a good location given the proximity to several dorms (NYU, New School and Cooper Union) as well as multiple apartment buildings. Rising rents? Amazon? Too many Basics Plus outposts?
In any event, I reached out the the Basics Plus HQ to learn more about this closure.
Basics Plus, with multiple NYC locations, took over the space last held by Surprise! Surprise!, which shuttered after 25 years in business in April 2014.
H/T EVG readers Isobel and Doug!
Previously on EV Grieve:
Surprise! Surprise! will close at the end of April (42 comments)
Reader report: Basics Plus moving into the former Surprise! Surprise! space
Basics Plus confirmed for former Surprise! Surprise! space on 3rd Avenue
14 comments:
I'd sadly vote that Target killed it.
Bring back Surprise, Surprise!
Better yet - bring back the old Hudson's - that giant and always slight wonderfully run down sporting goods/work clothes emporium that dominated that space!
A salesclerk told me that she thought that they were merging with the store on University Place. It's only 3 blocks away, so that makes some sense.
Sorry to see Basics Plus go, it was a good option for small appliances, but Surprise! Surprise! was a better store with more practical and affordable items. It reminded me of the old Azuma (and Izumi) stores of old, which were around for decades. I still miss the one on west 8th Street, with all their bamboo mats and Japanese lanterns.
Get ready for a lot more store closings. Over 450 stores announced they were closing in the past week, and at least 4000 large retail stores will close this year, and those are just the national chain stores, Chipotle, The Gap, Target, Kmart, Starbucks, and even Tesla are closing stores ahead of the forecasted 2019 Recession. I doubt The Gap will be around in a few years, Payless Shoesource, which used to be almost everywhere, in StuyTown, on Delancey Street, and on West 14th Street, is bankrupt and closing all 2,500 stores.
Some Manhattan neighborhoods have blocks where half the stores are for rent. The future isn’t what it used to be. We are rapidly becoming a rich ghost town.
Everything in Basics was a dollar more and not very interesting. I stayed away.
Losing durable goods brick and mortar stores really hurts. Don't need another Chase bank branch.
Regarding closing date, a sign INSIDE the store that I saw yesterday says final day is APRIL 29th.
An employee told me that management thinks the store at University and 13th is a "better" location. All I can say is that I'm not walking from 3rd Ave. to University Place for a light bulb or a bottle of liquid soap. The local bodega or Food Emporium would be closer.
I wonder if dorm residents don't buy as much as management had expected at 3rd Ave?
In any case, the rent must have something to do with it. Surprise, Surprise lasted 25 years, and this place not quite 5 years.
It's such a large space; not clear what could/would go in there next. Something overpriced and unnecessary, I'm sure.
Surprise lasted a pretty long time, though -- and it is missed. For a hardware store, Plus just didnt have an identity.
I think many parents purchase their college-age kids' basics for them through Amazon or Walmart. And @Giovanni,I miss Azuma, too.
Target is opening more "smaller" stores in the city, there is one for April on 29th & 2nd where Gristedes used to be before it closed a few years ago after Fairway came to 30th & 2nd. I remember Azuma and the stacks of Indian cotton bedspreads and the beautiful little boxes of matches. Those were good days.
Wow. This is sad, but it's not that shocking. Brick and Motar is sort of a thing of the past. Today, I ordered a few household items on Amazon from the comfort of my own flat. I could have easily found most of them if I ventured outside and shopped door to door in the freezing cold. I am sorry to admit it, but there are many people such as myself who order online rather than patronize local shops. Not only can some of us find what we want more, but often it is less expensive with a wider selection, and delivered to your door. It is what it is.
Businesses today have to compete with so many and are forced to pay exorbinant rent. Nonetheless, this is a loss for our community.
their prices weren't great, but Basics Plus got me out of a jam on more than one occasion when I needed something for a party. With two locations so close, it does make sense, though I'm still sad to see them go
@6:09m: When I'm in a rush or it's an emergency, the internet does me no good! It's so much easier to run over to Basics Plus for something I know they'll have - and not sit around waiting for a delivery, to boot!
This place is so overpriced it is obscene. Go to the two owned by local merchants stores who have the same stuff at better prices: Saifee Hardware at 7th and First Avenue, and Brickman's Hardware between 3rd and 4th on First Avenue. Brickman's gives discounts to local nonprofits so that is where I shop.
Their last day is April 29th
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