Pearl River Mart will reopen in Soho

Pearl River Mart president Joanne Kwong announced in her most recent blog post that the neighborhood institution will move (back) to Soho, taking up residence at 452 Broadway between Howard and Grand. (Of course if you are a close reader of comments here, TribecaMom and James Bogardus were already onto the news a couple days ago.) In December, the store was forced to leave their current location in Tribeca, after negotiations with the landlord stalled. They left their previous location before that after the landlord at 477 Broadway raised the rent from $1 million to $6 million.

“It has honestly been a harrowing 13 months, but we have been buoyed by your kind and encouraging visits, emails, DMs, tweets, posts, calls, orders, and well wishes,” Joanne wrote. “It is painfully ironic that due to the realities of NYC real estate and the ruthlessly increasing costs of running a small business in the city, we’ve had to move the main store five times in our 50-year history, always after serving as a community anchor and helping to build up each respective block.”

The move is happening over the next several weeks, and you can see from the picture at the top of the page, the space has already been christened with 250 personalized lanterns hand-dipped in polyurethane for the Light Up Chinatown project.

Here’s the 50-year real estate story behind the store:
22 Catherine St. (1971 to 1980)
13 Elizabeth St. (1978 to 1986)
277 Canal Street (1986 to 2003)
Outpost at Grand Street (1988 to 2004)
477 Broadway (2003 to 2016)
395 Broadway (2016 to 2021)
452 Broadway (2021 to forever!)

More from Joanne: “Every November, our team starts running at full speed shortly before Black Friday and does not take a breath until the start of Lunar New Year is completed. This year was no exception and, if anything, was perhaps even more frenzied than past years due to limited staff, vastly different consumer buying patterns, the opening of our newest store Pearl River Mart Foods, and the unexpected need to vacate our Tribeca location and find and build out a new flagship store.

“Despite the chaos, we are proud to have not only kept operations going in our three open locations and e-commerce platforms, but to have helped #LightUpChinatown on Mott Street, raised revenue for fellow Chinatown businesses with The Chinatown Collection, and planned the largest socially distanced outdoor Lunar New Year dining and lion dance celebration at Chelsea Market. The pandemic has forced us — and every other retail and hospitality small business in the nation — to pivot almost every single day.”

 

8 Comments

  1. Wonderful news. Beautiful lanterns lighting up.

  2. Such pleasant surprise to have some good news. Still said that they will leave Tribeca, but very glad the store will survive and hopefully thrive. And it will still be nearby.

    Best of luck and success for the store in the new location! We look forward to visiting it.

  3. Happy to be the one to bring them back to Soho

  4. How Wonderful!!!

  5. Good news. Pearl River always offered more for your bed, bath, and beyond than the national chain of that name.

  6. Just saw on Facebook, there will be a Rally to Rise Up Against Asian Hate this Sat 2/27/2021 at 1pm at 26 Federal Plaza.

    “Join the Asian American Federation (AAF) in speaking out against the anti-Asian violence that has impacted Asian Americans since the start of the pandemic, creating great fear and anxiety in our community.
    In the past few weeks alone, there has been a spate of assaults on Asian elders in New York City and across the county. These are just the latest in a string of racist attacks numbering close to 500 that have targeted Asian New Yorkers. The City’s response has not been nearly adequate enough to prevent this crisis.
    We’ll be joined by elected leaders and our members, partners, and allies to urge stronger, community-based action to address the anti-Asian racism and ensure greater, more immediate safety for all Asian New Yorkers.
    PLEASE NOTE:
    As the rally will take place in-person, AAF requires anyone who attends to wear a mask and practice social distancing. The rally will take place in an outdoor environment, in front of 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan.”

  7. better mouse traps.

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