What to Watch: NYC’s New Shopping District Recalls SoHo in the ’90s
Nostalgia for the ’90s is nothing new in fashion, nor in New York City, where the decade is often considered a yesteryear of pre-commercial gentrification.
One quadrant of the Lower East Side is being resettled in a way that’s akin to what many say is how SoHo felt then: a little hamlet of unique shops set up by creatives looking to draw a like-minded community.
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Dubbed in the last five years as Dimes Square — named for the health food café Dimes that serves as a next-gen salon for the neighborhood’s mix of skaters, hipsters and wannabes — the area has in the last six months become a new destination for small boutiques getting their start in what felt like the aftermath of the pandemic.
Their presence adds to what was already a trendy Manhattan restaurant quarter that conveniently has a pedestrian plaza at its center, creating the perfect storm for a see-and-be-seen gathering place in a city struggling to get its energy back.
Running north to south from Delancey Street to East Broadway and bracketed by Allen and Essex Streets, the neighborhood’s rows of empty, petite shopfronts are quickly being snapped up by ambitious storekeepers eager to be part of a new retail era that feels more personal and localized.
Skate shop Labor, streetwear brand Good Company, jeweler The Hunt and contemporary Chinese arts boutique Chop Suey Club were originals in the area, located at the edges of New York’s rapidly dwindling Chinatown. A block of café-style restaurants on Division Street between Orchard and Ludlow Streets had, since Great Recession times, been a quiet retreat for the arts crowd. Circa 2015, others, like Dimes, began to trickle in. And in November 2019 Bode opened a store at 58 Hester Street — kicking off wider retail interest.
Last fall, colorful and quirky housewares boutique Coming Soon moved locations down to Dimes Square proper at 53 Canal Street — flush with new fame that came from the made-for-Instagram home improvement trend, which flourished during the pandemic. In December, designer Sandy Liang opened at 28 Orchard Street. And since last summer, the floodgates have opened: emerging fashion boutique Café Forgot cropped up at 29 Ludlow Street; there was a pop-up from traveling concept shop Beverly’s at 22 Ludlow; hype vintage seller Leisure Center opened at 48 Hester; glitzy accessories brand Susan Alexandra set up at 33 Orchard, and shoppable lifestyle showroom The Break took a fifth-floor space at 62 Allen.