After nearly three years at 524 E. Fifth St. between Avenue A and Avenue B, Odd Eye NYC is closing up shop.
The owners of the design store are moving their business online...
In an upbeat closing notice on Instagram, the owners note:
What a ride but guess what?
It’s time to adapt. We’re going 100% digital! 🤳🏼
Everything is on sale! Come make an offer/score a deal!
Been a lot of fun and a lot of hard work! Excited to see what ODDEYE has in store for you in the future but until then come buy some shit! 🤗
And thx for the awesome opportunity and the best landlord anyone could ask for! C U on the internet!
Odd Eye will be open through this month. You can find their website here.
5 comments:
I five years, what will be left of some shop retail in this neighborhood? Even high end stores will suffer the fate of young entrepreneurs with soaring commercial rents and the extra burden of paying the landlords ever increasing property taxes. Capitalism has a way of eating its own children.
Retail is becoming a remnant of the past. Only a few will be left standing. It is far more sustainable to have an online presence rather than a storefront or brick and mortar. The uncertainty of the latter has led to the decline of several businesses due to the advent of technology, mainly Amazon and other retailers who solely sell merchandise online. The exorbitant rents are out of control here in the city including utilities, insurance and labor. We are living in a different world now. This isn't the 2000's anymore.
I freelance as a stylist on television commercials. A majority of stores I used to frequent folded up and went away. I also know someone whom has an online boutique retail business. They are doing very well and don't have the same headaches and worries as many business owners with storefronts. Also with Barney's out of the equation, consumers don't have the additional income to spend on frivolous items. I would bet money that within five years, many retailers you see today will be gone. Most can't justify spending $2000 on a winter jacket or $3000 on a pair of designer leather shoes. Most of us can't afford items such as that. Barneys caters to a tiny select group of consumers. The rest want affordability and accessibility.
I wish Odd Eye the very best. They were a unique place. Perhaps they will have more success online and can breathe a bit more. :)
noble neolani, Predatory capitalism as practiced by speculator, developer landlords has a way of eating up neighborhoods. There is a reason why the biggest lobbying group in NY is the real estate industry. Support the new commercial rent regulations. Give innovation and small businesses a chance.
I was invited to give the closing keynote at the International Retail design conference in Boston 3 weeks ago and the theme was how the internet is not destroying everything, retail is just changing, as it has always done. As landlords and the city realize they need income, rents will come down and incentives increase. It's always a pendulum and as a former LES store owner myself who is offered free space (I opened the first gallery last year at 57 Great Jones street until a store took on the space), I know from experience that things are improving.
If anyone is interested, here are 5 independent Boston shopkeepers with 750 years experience between them sharing their advice on how to stay in business. https://vimeo.com/372420002
It's cyclical. As all these bricks and mortar shops close, the rents will eventually fall (supply/demand). At some point the rents will reach a point that it becomes viable again to operate a physical sales location for retailers.
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