9 Big Name Retailers Opening Shop in Brooklyn
As more and more national brands shed their squeamishness about opening up shop in Brooklyn, the borough’s retail game is about to get a big boost. Here are nine of the biggest names to expect.
Retailers don’t get a whole lot more high-profile than Apple. There’s been a lot of buzz around the brand’s first Brooklyn store, with a 20k SF custom build-out at 247 Bedford Ave in Williamsburg, on a site owned by RedSky Capital and Waterbridge Capital. The latest news is that the two-story skeleton for what'll become the new store topped off over the summer.
The mother of all organic grocers already has one store in Brooklyn, but not in the heart of the borough’s top shopping district. The new store will be across the street from the Apple Store at 250 Bedford Ave. The site’s been vacant since long before the area had much retail pull, but if you cruise the Bedford strip now, you’ll see a glassy two-story building that looks a whole lot like a future Whole Foods. The latest word is that we’re looking at a spring 2016 opening.
The big-box housewares retailer, along with its affiliate stores, buybuy BABY, Cost Plus World Market and Harmon Face Values, signed a lease for over 100k SF at Salmar Properties’ Liberty View Industrial Plaza in Sunset Park last winter. CPEX Real Estate’s Ryan Condren, one of the brokers who did the deal, tells Bisnow it’ll open Q1 ‘16. Liberty View’s right next to Industry City, which just crossed the 2M SF mark in its office and industrial leasing efforts—so expect the influx of new workers, along with some new offerings that’ll include Sacks Fifth Avenue at Liberty View, to amp up the area’s retail scene.
Remember when Trader Joe’s first opened in Union Square in 2006 and the line for the check-out stretched around the store and out into the street? People sure like that place. No promises on lines out the door, but TJ’s second and third Brooklyn locations are on the way: an 18k SF store at 206 Kent Ave in Williamsburg and another, with 13,700 SF, at Downtown Brooklyn’s City Point development, was announced last month.
Last month SoulCycle’s Third Brooklyn location was announced: a 3,300 SF spread at 342 Flatbush Ave in Prospect Heights. The upscale spinning gym will be in a second-floor space to be built out by the landlord (right now the building’s just one story). It’s expected to be open between a year and 18 months from now.
Upstate NY transplants rejoice, Wegman’s is coming. The grocery store chain’s first store in any of the boroughs will be in Brooklyn, and at 74k SF, it promises to be a doozy. It’ll take the place of a decaying row of Civil War-era townhouses dubbed Admiral’s Row near the corner of Flushing Avenue and Navy Street on the grounds of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Expect an opening in 2017.
The Detroit-based lifestyle brand Shinola is coming to a 5k SF space at Midtown Equities and Rockwood Capital’s Empire Stores development on the Dumbo waterfront. It’ll be the brand’s first foray into Brooklyn. Shinola, known for its watches, will use the space to show off a wider array of handmade merchandise like bicycles and leather goods.
Fairway Market’s second Brooklyn outpost is coming to the Georgetown Shopping Center at 2149 Ralph Ave in the Bergen Beach neighborhood. It’ll cover 40k SF, and the rapidly expanding grocery store chain is committing to the space for 20 years. Fairway has five stores in Manhattan and its other Brooklyn location is along the Redhook waterfront.
Last month Two Trees announced it signed a lease to bring Equinox to 55 Washington St in Dumbo. The gym will take a 22k SF space on the second floor of the converted warehouse building. There’s one other Equinox location in the borough, in Brooklyn Heights.
