The Strand to Close Manhattan Annex
by Kevin Howell -- Publishers Weekly, 6/26/2008 10:46:00 AM
After 24 years in lower Manhattan’s South Street Seaport area, the 15,000 sq.-ft. Strand Book Annex at 95 Fulton Street will close August 31. The store will begin a 20% off everything sale on June 30 to avoid transporting its inventory to The Strand’s 81 year-old main location on Broadway and 12th Street. The Broadway store will also absorb the smaller location’s four managers and 17 booksellers.
“The street in front of our Fulton Street location has been under construction for the last nine months, making it very difficult for customers to get in and out and for us to have our bargain books on the sidewalk,” said owner Fred Bass. “It looks like the construction will go on for another year and it has hurt our sales tremendously.” The store’s lease was coming up for renewal and, according to Bass, the landlord wanted him to renew at market value, rather than a rate that took in account the long construction ordeal.
“We were doing very well before 9/11 and after a couple years, our sales recovered and we did well again,” said Bass. “But this latest construction is pretty major and has really hurt our business. We can’t wait another year for them to get this finished.”
The closing store has been at its current location since 1996. “We moved down to lower Manhattan 24 years ago, starting in a 1,000 sq.-ft. store on John Street,” said Bass. “It was a very little store and Talbots wanted the space, so I was kicked out and moved to 2,000 sq.-ft. store. We did really well there but we were on a month-to-month lease and we were always being threatened that our lease would be turned over to a bigger store. So, when the 15,000 sq.-ft. location on Fulton opened, we moved.”
“We’re a little sad to be leaving because we’d like to have that presence down there,” said Bass. “If I can find reasonable rent and good traffic, I’d open another store. We have the staff and the inventory to do it, its just a matter of finding the right place.”
