YINZERS BUYS FEINBERG BUILDING
Neighbor purchases Mike Feinberg Co. building in the Strip
The building that housed the famous Mike Feinberg Co. store in the Strip District will be left in the hands of a Yinzer.
Jim Coen, owner of Yinzers in the Burgh, a sports apparel and souvenir retailer in the Strip only a few blocks from the Feinberg store, has purchased the three-story building at 1736 Penn Ave. for $1.15 million.
In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Coen said he is hoping to use the new location as a means of diversifying his business. He plans to sell Pittsburgh souvenirs as well as sports apparel from the building. He also is toying with the idea of doing a “yinzer line of clothing.”
“It’s definitely going to be different. We’re right down the street from [Yinzers] and we really don’t want to compete with each other,” he said.
Mr. Coen will take over the space after the Mike Feinberg Co., a local institution known for selling party supplies, costumes, sports paraphernalia and uniquely Pittsburgh novelties, closes its doors at the end of April after 60 years in business.
The Feinberg family decided in February to sell the building and close the store. Mr. Coen said he got the idea to bid on the property after running into Marcia Feinberg, daughter of the store’s founder, Mike Feinberg. She urged him to consider buying it.
Mr. Coen said he was ready to make the investment after spending years in the Strip renting space.
“I started there 25 years ago as a street vendor. I was a street vendor for 12 years. I’ve been paying rent for a long time. I decided that it would be nice to own my own building,” he said.
He expects to open the new store in mid-June. “It’s going to be a little different than what Marcia did. I think I can give that building a little bit of a resurgence in business. They were like legends. I don’t think I’ll ever do what they did,” he said.
Mr. Coen said he wants to diversify so he doesn’t have to count on the local sports teams so much, particularly when they’re not doing so well.
“I reinvent myself all the time. I’ve got to pay my bills every month. We sell Pittsburgh goods. We sell anything we can to make a buck. The Strip has become such a tourist area. People come from other places. They’re not always sports fans. We’ve got to diversify and keep bringing in new things,” he said.
But before the Mike Feinberg Co. goes the way of Candy-Rama, the Honus Wagner Co. sporting goods store and other iconic Pittsburgh retailers, it will have one last day in the sun.
Mayor Bill Peduto will declare this Sunday, March 26, “Mike Feinberg Day” in the Strip. The day also is the birth date of the store’s founder, who died in 2007. The store, which usually is closed on Sundays, will be open for the special day.
Co-owner Marcia Feinberg said there will be special sales, free giveaways and music to celebrate.
“It’s like a last hurrah,” she said.