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Rent forcing beloved Chinese- goods store to close
Another fixture of old New York is closing because of skyhigh rents.
The 44yearold Chinese department store Pearl River Mart in Soho near Chinatown will shutter after its rent shot up from $ 100,000 to $ 500,000 per month, the owners said.
“The rent is going to be too high. We just couldn’t afford it,” said Ching Chen, who founded the business with her husband, Ming Yi Chen.
“People are sad. There is no store in the world like this. It is such a unique place. Customers take pictures — they think they are in Hong Kong,” she said of the sprawling store on Broadway near Broome Street.
Founded in 1971, the store sells quirky Chinese imports such as braided straw slippers, teacups and paper lanterns.
It has been a favorite of thrifty fashionistas, designers and even celebrities such as Sarah Jessica Parker and Christina Aguilera, owners said.
But rent soared after chains such as Citibank, Timberland and Starbucks moved onto the block several years ago, workers at the store said.
“Rent skyrocketed when all the namebrand stores moved in,” said Pearl River Mart manager Wilkie Wong.
Owners now plan to leave the shop, which employs 40 people, by the end of the year and sell goods online instead.
Shoppers said they were sad to see the lower Manhattan mainstay go.
“I’ve been coming here for about 10 years. My mom used to come here to get her shrimp chips and candy. It makes me really sad that they’re closing because it’s not the New York I grew up in,” said Samantha Lubrano, 23, a barista from Bedford Stuyvesant.
“New York is like walking through a mall now,” she moaned.
Pearl River Mart owners moved into the Soho building in 2003 — when rent in the 30,000squarefoot space was $ 70,000 per month.
Before that, they sold the items at a shop on Elizabeth Street in Chinatown.
Other downtown businesses that have said recently they will close or move due to high rent include Union Square Cafe in the East Village, Milk & Honey bar in Chinatown and WD50 restaurant on the Lower East Side.
Nathan Baden, owner of the retail space at 477 Broadway, didn’t return calls seeking comment on Tuesday.