At the closing party for Lori McLean's jewelry shop

Photos by Stacie Joy 

Last Saturday, Lori McLean held a closing party at her eponymous jewelry shop at 207 Avenue A, between 12th Street and 13th Street. 

As we reported, McLean decided to retire from running a storefront after two decades.

After a summer hiatus, she will continue doing custom work for clients. (Check her website for details.) 

EVG's Stacie Joy stopped by for the shop's farewell...

McLean had two East Village storefronts, first on 11th Street then 207 Avenue A. 

"My landlord is great and really saved us during the COVID shutdown," she said of No. 207, which will be available to rent in May.

Lori McLean has decided to close her East Village jewelry shop

Photo by Stacie Joy 

After several decades in business, Lori McLean will close her eponymous jewelry shop at 207 Avenue A, between 12th Street and 13th Street, this month.

"I'm ready for change," McLean told EVG after all the years running a storefront. 

McLean moved from the West Village to East 11th Street in 2015 following a rent increase. She was on the move again in 2020 when that lease was up, relocating to Avenue A. 

"My landlord is great and really saved us during the COVID shutdown," she said of 207 Avenue A, which will be available to rent in May. (The space was previously home to Obscura Antiques and Oddities.) 

This Saturday, there's a closing party at the shop from 4 to 8 p.m. — wine, cheese, and 50% off any remaining jewelry.

And after that?

"I'm taking the summer off and will then do custom work for people," she said, noting to keep an eye on her website for updates.

Lori McLean Jewelry moving to Avenue A

Lori McLean Jewelry is on the move, relocating from her home of five years on 11th Street to 207 Avenue A.

The boutique specializing in vintage and custom jewelry designs had been at 320 E. 11th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue (after a move from the West Village). The lease was up, and apparently, the landlord had plans for a new tenant (namely a sushi counter, but more on that in another post).

Fortunately, McLean was able to find another storefront in the East Village. Her new space, expected to be ready in early June, had been home here near 13th Street to Obscura Antiques and Oddities until late December when co-owners Evan Michelson and Mike Zohn decided to move on after nearly 20 years in business.

When it came time to find a new shop, McLean said that she wanted to stay in the East Village. "The neighborhood has been so supportive of us and a delight to work in," she told me earlier this year.

West Village-based jeweler Lori McLean relocating to the East Village

[Image via Google Street View]

Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks isn't the only shop making the move west to east.

After closing her West Village location last month courtesy of a rent hike, jeweler Lori McLean is reopening her eponymously named shop at 320 E. 11th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue on Sunday.

In addition to her own handmade line of jewelry, the new space will offer a curated selection of small, handmade lines from independent artists, according to a news release that McLean sent us.

"More than anything, we’re just excited to be part of a creative community again," Lori explains, noting that astronomical rents in their previous West Village location had turned the neighborhood from vibrant and heavily trafficked to desolate save for the corporations who could afford it by the end of the shop’s ten-year lease. "So many great, small businesses had closed around us, almost all replaced by big-name, luxury brands, that by the time our landlord offered us a renewal that was double what we had been paying, it was a little easier to say 'No thanks.'"

So she and her team packed up and embarked on what they have deemed their “East Village Migration,” choosing the spot on 11th Street nestled among neighborhood favorites like Casey Rubber Stamps and the Pas De Deux/Odin duo. The new location will transform the store into what McLean, with over 20 years of experience under her belt, hopes will become "more like your neighborhood jeweler," of days gone-by.

With her studio space tucked in the back, she and her staff will offer what have now become rare services such as custom design work, and, through their Jewelry Hospital” repairs, engraving, plating, stone-setting and pearl stringing services, to name a few.