The ABC Carpet and Home store, yards from the Brooklyn waterfront, has been closed for about a
\n\t\t
\nyear now, but people moving into the new 33-story J Condominiums up Jay Street need not fret about finding that perfect new sofa.<\/p>\n
BoConcept, an outlet of a Danish furniture chain that opened on Front Street in December, is just the latest in a cluster of furniture stores that have set up shop in the narrow Dumbo neighborhood. It is also the third specializing in European designs alone, joining Baxter & Liebchen on Jay Street, which sells vintage Danish pieces, and Prague Kolektiv on Front Street, which sells Czech furniture.<\/p>\n
Shaokao Cheng, who owns the BoConcept franchise in New York, said the area\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s reputation as a center for design enthusiasts had attracted him. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153One of the reasons we went out to Dumbo is so we could showcase some of our design-conscious pieces,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said last week. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153By being there, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re hoping to say, hey, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not just about selling to the masses a couch that you can get anywhere.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
One afternoon last week at the store\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s crisp white showroom, a local artist named Stephanie Brody-Lederman, who was browsing, said the market for BoConcept\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wares was simple. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of new construction, a lot of condos opening up \u00e2\u20ac\u201d and they have walls and floors,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she deadpanned. Besides the J Condominiums, the new structures include the 23-story Beacon Tower just past the Manhattan Bridge, and the recently opened 70 Washington Street, which has 259 units.<\/p>\n
The European stores are just part of the menu: Hide Harashima, who writes about the neighborhood on DumboNYC.com, his blog, can rattle off a long list of local furniture merchants, including the independents Wonk, City Joinery and Journey Home on Jay Street; the outlet of the Williams-Sonoma-owned chain West Elm on Front Street; and even Modern Tots, which sells sleek children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s furniture on Pearl Street.<\/p>\n
Besides the new residences, the neighborhood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s appeal to these businesses includes large converted warehouse spaces and an active creative community, Mr. Harashima said.<\/p>\n
Andrew Kevelson, who owns Baxter & Liebchen, said that despite the local building boom, space was a relative bargain for a business like his. In Manhattan, he explained, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153to get into a neighborhood where people tend to look for an interesting aesthetic in furniture, that would have to be SoHo, TriBeCa or NoHo, and it could cost six times as much.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The manager at Wonk, Robert Siewert, said his customers are the kind of people who know what an Eames chair is. Dumbo, he thinks, has at least something to do with that.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153This building, before they started getting kicked out, was mostly artist studios,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said about the J Condominiums, around the corner. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Maybe people buy into that idea, even though they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re spending a million dollars on an apartment.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d JAKE MOONEY<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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