Rendering by S9 Architecture
Dumbo-based home furnishings company West Elm will be the first tenant to open in the massive and neighborhood-changing 146-year-old coffee warehouse-turned-retail hub Empire Stores.
The grand opening of its new flagship is set for August 18 at 8 a.m., the retailer revealed in an email Wednesday. West Elm is leasing a third of the historic building and will also have its offices there. (more…)
The sharing economy is about more than finding your own health insurance and funding your own 401k. It’s also about being independent while networking with other entrepreneurs to discover new ways of sharing workspaces that promote collaboration and creativity. Here are some co-working spaces doing things right in Dumbo.
DUMBO Startup Lab (DSL) is committed to helping entrepreneurs become part of a vibrant community of like-minded individuals in a welcoming loft space. They offer flexible plans for everything from individuals just needing a desk to groups brainstorming huge projects. DSL is located at 68 Jay Street and gives members access and amenities that include a kitchen space with free water, coffee, and tea, as well as hosting events, panels, and meet-ups for up-and-comers.
If you were at the Dumbo tree lighting on December 3, you saw something pretty crazy… 350 elephants dropping from the sky.
Fortunately for the people there, the elephants were small and made of foam, and they floated into the crowd on parachutes. This “Operation Dumbo Drop” was a stunt by the DUMBO Improvement District to promote holiday shopping in Dumbo by giving away $10,000 in DUMBO Dollars. These $20 vouchers are good towards items at 26 stores throughout the neighborhood.
If you missed out on the fun, keep an eye on the DUMBO BID’s Twitter and Instagram accounts, as well as DumboDollars.com, where they’ll be giving out hints for the locations of future Dumbo Drops. (It looks like there’s one today!)
Photo of 2015 Dumbo Tree Lighting by Philip Greenberg. (more…)
With the holiday spirit creeping up on us, we wandered around the neighborhood looking for places where Dumbo residents (or festive office workers) can pick up a holiday tree. We found two… did we miss any?
The sidewalk along their stretch of Front Street is currently a fragrant corridor of spruce. You can pick up trees and wreaths along with your sandwich and carrot juice.
Dumbo indie publisher and bookstore powerHouse Books is vacating its 10,200-square-foot marquee space at 37 Main Street in February. (more…)
We’ve all had discussions about the neighborhood changes in Dumbo. Rents are expensive and going up. Dumbo is the most expensive Brooklyn neighborhood and has been for at least the past 10 years. And that’s affected the commercial and retail tenants that can’t keep up with the market pricing. But we all know the constant is change in Dumbo and it’s no longer the secluded urban wilderness we once knew. There’s good and bad to the changes.
Unfortunately, when stores close, business owners take on a huge burden and often financial loss. P.S. Bookshop is on the brink of closing, Baxter & Liebchen closed at the end of May and moved to Tribeca in Manhattan, Pinkberry closed in January, Zakka closed in August after 20 years in business (8 years in Dumbo), and of course Galapagos Art Space moved to Detriot. (more…)