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Court Street's Getting A J. Crew, Losing A Longtime Grocery Store
By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jun 6, 2013
Modified Jun 6, 2013
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By
Rebecca Fishbein
Published Jun 6, 2013
Modified Jun 6, 2013
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It's been a while since we've heard anything about the proposed Williamsburg J. Crew that aimed to turn Bedford Ave into the cashmere cardigan-wearing capital of Kings County. Sadly, it seems that store is not to be, but Brooklyn will be getting its first J. Crew sometime next year, on Court Street in Cobble Hill. After a longtime grocer is pushed out, of course.
Women's Wear Daily reports that the company has signed a lease for a two-story, 2,400-square-foot space at 151 Court Street, and insiders say the store is expected to open sometime in 2014. But 151 Court Street's current tenant is a 13-year-old grocery store, and the owners say they're being unceremoniously pushed out. "We are trying to negotiate with the landlord," Billy Solmaz, the manager of Pacific Green Gourmet Food, told DNAinfo. "He just wants to give the place to a big corporation."
Solmaz says they were told by the landlord last month that they had to be out by the end of the year, even though they were willing to dish out for much higher rent. "We don’t want to leave," he said. Solmaz and his partners moved to Brooklyn from Turkey over a decade ago, opening the grocery store in 2001; locals say it's since become a neighborhood institution, and they've managed to stay afloat even with the opening of a nearby Trader Joe's. "We need a store like this," one of Pacific Green Gourmet Food's frequent shoppers told DNAinfo. "We don’t need a J.Crew." But think of all the blazers! Doesn't everyone need a blazer?
Meanwhile, the company says a Williamsburg store's not in the cards right now, though they do plan on opening more stores in Brooklyn eventually. Though if and when they do make it to the Northside, we expect the store to house a full craft beer bar and artisan sandwich shop, because otherwise, what's the point?
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cobble hill
Court Street
j crew
pacific green gourmet food
Rebecca Fishbein
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