This mini mart is big business
$5K/mo. for tiniest US shop in W. Village
A West Village commercial space billed as “the smallest” in the nation is on the market for a very big price.
The 27-square-foot triangular shop at 169 W. 10th St. — roughly half the size of a smart car — is asking for $5,000 monthly rent.
Broker Invictus Property Advisors claims the space is “the smallest retail store in the country.”
The corner property comes with an electric outlet and meter, but utilities including water and gas would have to be pulled from the street.
The rent is a staggering 426% increase from the previous tenant’s fees in 2014 and translates to just over $185/square foot — roughly triple what you would pay for a 350-square-foot former cigar store on Christopher Street.
“Although small, the tiny corner store . . . commands a mighty premium,” Invictus managing partner Andrew Levine said, adding that the property has caught the eye of high-end hatters and artists.
Size matters
On Thursday, a 6-foot-tall Post reporter laid down on the sidewalk to size up the tiny space, and his legs extended well beyond one wall.
For 30 years, the Lilliputian lot was occupied by a Senegalese vendor named Balla, who sold African clothing and sunglasses while paying just $950 a month in rent in 2014 to the property’s then-owner, Dr. Abdul Awan, a Brooklyn family physician.
The longtime tenant left last year after Awan sold his corner for $190,000 to World’s Smallest LLC, according to city records.
“Someone can do business as a one-person show,” said Minnie Dee, 38, a property manager and singersongwriter. “This is location, location, location. They’re banking on that.”
All about location
But despite heavy foot traffic on Seventh Avenue South, many in the neighborhood still were shocked any businesses were entertaining inking a lease for the broom closet.
Juicers eying the spot “would have to sell a lot of juice to pay that rent,” joked Juan Vinas, a 59year-old GMC parking garage manager.
James Wilson, who lives two doors down from the space, wracked his brain for what venture could break even operating out of the shoebox storefront.
“If you had a lotto machine, you could make rent,” he said. “I don’t know anything else you could sell there to crack that nut.”
The new owner is considering turning the space into the “world’s smallest pop-up store” with rotating three- to six-month lease terms, according to Levine.