Blick Art Materials moving to Broadway and Howard

July 10, 2022 Shopping

Blick Art Materials, the art supply chain that was founded as a mail order company by Dick Blick in 1911, is moving just north of Canal, to 443 Broadway and Howard, just around the corner from its old location but psychologically closer to us. That puts two art stores not quite in Tribeca but close enough — including Soho Art Materials on Wooster.

They are closing the Bond Street and Lafayette stores.

The company was bought in the ’40s by another family, and is still family-owned though now they have about 60 stores — give or take — across the country, with seven in the city. The first retail store was opened in Illinois in 1974; they then bought several art store chains along the way, including the Brooklyn-based Utrecht Art Supplies in 2013.

My daughter caught the news from the cashier there, who said they were moving to the former Pearl River space, but I think he was a few storefronts off. Pearl Paint was at 477 Broadway for 13 years until it got what I would call a famous rent hike at that spot and moved to Tribeca, till this last move back to Soho during the pandemic.

 

4 Comments

  1. James
    July 10, 2022 • 10:16 am

    I think you mean founded in 1911, not 2011.

    Reply
  2. Jeff E
    July 10, 2022 • 2:58 pm

    I think you mean Pearl River, not Pearl Paint )(which was on Canal Street).

    Reply
  3. Heide Fasnacht
    July 12, 2022 • 6:17 am

    There is no comparison between Blick and Soho Art Materials. At Soho Art Materials the staff is knowledgeable and caters to professional artists. The supplies are high quality. At Blick no one can answer any questions and though a few supplies are good, many are not. It is, after all, a chain store.

    Reply

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