After 31 years, White Trash is closing on 5th Street

Photos courtesy of Stuart Zamsky & @WhiteTrashNYC 

White Trash, the vintage furniture and home furnishings shop at 304 E. Fifth St. just east of Second Avenue, is closing next month after 31 years in business. 

Owner Stuart Zamsky said the shop's last day is expected to be around Aug. 10. To help clear inventory, White Trash is holding its first-ever 25%-off storewide sale. 

A bittersweet decision 

"It's definitely a bittersweet moment," Zamsky told us. 

Several factors led to the decision.

"Yes, the rent is going up, but not so much that it would be impossible — enough so that it makes work that much harder," he said. "I'm 65 and wasn't sure that I wanted to be grinding even more to make the business profitable." 

He also cited the building itself, noting that the shop gets extremely cold in the winter and needs significant renovation. 

"When I added up those factors, it seemed that this would be a good time to retire," he said. 

Zamsky and his wife, Kim Wurster, who co-founded White Trash in 1995 (below), hope to travel more. While they expect to remain involved in the resale business in some capacity, they're not yet sure what that will look like.

A furniture store — and more

White Trash began with two actors who loved vintage furniture and hoped to leave behind survival jobs.

"We never thought it would become a multi-decade endeavor that would provide enough stability to raise a family," Zamsky said. 

Their two sons grew up in the shop, spending afternoons there after school before eventually becoming part-time employees. 

"The people we've met whose places we've helped furnish have been one of our great joys," he said. "We're still friends with our very first workers — now adults with their own children."

A neighborhood gathering place 

Over the years, White Trash became more than a place to buy mid-century furniture. 

"It became a 'third space' for us and our neighbors," Zamsky said. 

After becoming active in the Fifth Street Block Association, he said the shop evolved into an informal meeting place where neighbors discussed local issues, organized around neighborhood concerns and simply caught up with one another. 

"It was about as small-town as one could get." 

But the sense of community extended beyond Fifth Street.

"Whether it was famous actors, writers, comedians, musicians or folks just looking for some good shopping, our greatest pleasure was extending some hospitality, sharing our knowledge of stuff and where to get it, where to have it refinished or reupholstered."

A lasting memory 

Among Zamsky's favorite memories is creating the shop's distinctive Airstream trailer sign with his late father, a former mechanical engineer. 

"He helped me source the metal, construct it and hang it," Zamsky recalled. "He was fearless.

"I can still see him up there on the ladder at the top of the second-floor windows hanging the supports."

White Trash is open Monday-Saturday from 2-8 p.m.