Furniture Retailer Raymour & Flanigan Joins Fulton Mall Revolution

By on August 29, 2012 10:26 am in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Development, Downtown Brooklyn, Shopping

One after another… The big boom continues in Downtown Brooklyn, with yet another national retailer signing on to set up digs on Fulton Mall’s 17-block stretch from Boerum Place to Flatbush Avenue. Furniture chain Raymour & Flanigan will occupy a robust 28,000 square feet on the second floor at 490 Fulton Street.

As BHB readers well know, Raymour & Flanigan joins upcoming Century 21, H&M, T.J. Maxx, which are now under construction in the neighborhood; alongside the recently opened Gap Factory Outlet, Áeropostale, Starbucks, Brooklyn Industries, Seattle’s Best and Express. And around the corner on Adams Street, Potbelly just joined the burgeoning “Restaurant Row,” which will soon encompass Panera Bread, Chipotle, Sugar and Plumm, and American BBQ and Beer.

Scott Milnamow, a senior VP of real estate development at Raymour & Flanigan, told the New York Times that this will be the largest furniture store in Downtown Brooklyn. “We looked at a number of different neighborhoods, but felt like other national retailers are going to Fulton Street, and we wanted to be a part of that tenant mix.” The store is scheduled to open in February.

The Times says that Armani Exchange, Victoria’s Secret and Nordstrom Rack have also been sniffing around Downtown Brooklyn. “I’ve been doing deals on this street for 20 years, and only recently are we starting to see a real shift toward national retailers,” noted Barry Fishbach, an EVP at RKF.

The Times offers an overall look at Downtown Brooklyn’s rejuvenation, in an article titled “National Retailers Discover a Brooklyn Mall” here. While NYT is coming late to the party in discovering what BHB readers have been reading for months regarding Fulton Mall’s rejuvenation, the story does offer interesting details about the anatomy of retailer deals.

(Photo: Chuck Taylor)

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  • HenryLoL

    LOL. R&F is junk. That is not going to attract anyone the Fulton Mall. Same with Express. I just pray something good moves into the Municipal Building — that is what will define our end of the Fulton Mall.

  • Bloomy

    @HenryLoL What would you like to see move to the Municipal Building?

  • Henry Hicks

    HenryLoL, i’m guessing that means you’d rather see another wig shop or check cashing joint? Or are you waiting for Tiffany & Co. before you dare tip-toe into “junky” Downtown?

  • WillowSt.Neighbor

    HenryLoL,
    Yeah, any suggestions instead of bashing a popular furniture store?
    It may not be your cup of tea but another dollar store it isn’t!

  • GHB

    Downtown ain’t Madison Avenue! Stop bitching, and be happy that some retailers are moving in…

  • Nick A

    Can we stop calling the endless succession of fast-food chains on the Fulton Mall (Chipotle, Panera, Potbelly) Brooklyn’s “Restaurant Row”? It is absolutely embarrassing.

  • Mr. Crusty

    @HenryLoL What would you like to see move to the Municipal Building?

    an aquatic center

  • HenryLoL

    You stop bitching. Who the hell do you people think you are? And yes, an aquatic center would be awsome, thank you.

    Have fun with your R&F junk…

  • Gerry

    @ HenryLOL – Raymour & Flannigan is NOT junk it is good stylish middle of the line furniture for middle class people.

    This is GREAT news for the Fulton Mall now lets get a TJMAXX/HomeGoods and IKEA we can al lredecorate on a budget.

  • C.

    Agree R&F is junk. Always envisioned Fulton Street as having the potential of being a NY version of Bourbon Street. With the wide sidewalks and limited traffic there’s so much space for sidewalk seating and foot traffic. The street could be lined with bars, restaurants, cafes and unique Brooklyn shops, but instead the suburban mallification continues. Better than what it currently is, but why can’t someone have the vision of turning Fulton Street into its own destination instead of just the same crap you can get in midtown Manhattan.

  • DrewB

    @NickA, I agree completely. Not sure who dubbed that “Brooklyn’s Restaurant Row”, but it is a joke. As if that strip compares at all to the offerings on Smith Street or newly opened restaurants on Atlantic. Not to mention, when was the last time you ever had a good meal on anything called “Restaurant Row”? It brings to mind crappy pre-theater meal deals and sidewalks filled with touts waving menus in your face.

    @C. This is what I hope for too. It is the perfect location for restaurants and nightlife. And it is the one place in the area that could be a nightlife hub without having too much negative impact on residential buildings.

    All that said, anything is an improvement over the current situation. And anything that brought nighttime activity would improve the whole area.

  • north heights res

    There seems to be more than a hint of racism in the complaints about Fulton Mall. It doesn’t cater to upper middle school white Brooklyn Heights, but the street is packed every time I go there, as are the shops. It seems to be a pretty well functioning economic district, serving a community that’s not Brooklyn Heights.

    I think it’s sort of disturbing that so many people think it needs to be changed at all.

  • C.

    @north heights res:

    I saw a lady defecating in front of the Gap last week. You don’t know what you’re talking about.

  • Mr. Crusty

    @C ? What does the defecating lady have to do with anything? We’ve had reports of defecating individuals on Montague Street. Relevance?

  • Gerry

    @ C – R & F is NOT junk we have a beautiful living room a brown suede microfiber loose pillow back sofa with matching cocktail ottoman looks great on my oriental rug and they are wearing well this was affordable furniture looks great wears welll R & F is not junk.

  • Gerry

    And we had to drive out to Old Country Road in Westbury to buy our R & F furniture now if we need anything we shop here in Brooklyn.

  • Jorale-man

    Eww, that’s really disgusting @C.

    I question whether reviving Fulton Street and catering to minority shoppers are necessarily mutually exclusive. You should be able to improve the look and feel of the street while still offering a diverse mix of businesses. Yes, more expensive stores are bound to move in, but there’s still a market for the lower end as well.

  • hoppy

    Who could pass on furniture designed by former supermodels? ;-)

    @ C.:
    Who knows? Maybe one day that woman could be lecturing in front of Harvard Law School :

    http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1991/Whatever-Happened-to-Billie-Boggs-/id-515e79d71cbab2ab9e404fa58dc8863a

  • C.

    @ Mr. Crusty:

    The point was that change is most definitely needed.

  • C.

    @ Gerry:

    Didn’t mean that it’s junk. Just that it’s not stylish. More suburban, less up to date design wise. Typical of what one would find out in a suburban mall area like… Westbury.

  • dobrorocks

    Have to agree, too many big chains coming into the mail.
    I like the idea of a sephora or mac store coming to the municipal building.

    my big question is why our surrounding area doesn’t have an office supply store, a la Staples. All we have is the store on Court St and it is fine but a little overpriced.

  • C.

    Municipal building would be perfect for Apple, but they apparently have no interest. A high end restaurant is going in there. Heard Apple is looking in the Atlantic Terminal/Barclays Center area.

    Noticed Kevin Barry’s Bar is getting remodeled/restored/renamed? The signs are down but workers seem to be restoring the interior nicely. Never been inside the place, but will be interesting if Downtown gets its first decent bar to go to.

  • Bette

    Maybe the Municipal Building could house a Spin Ping Pong place (or maybe a cheaper ping pong place). It’s so much fun ;) and something you can do in bad weather. But I guess, per C. there’s already a restaurant going in there.

    That could be ok too – depending on what they serve and how much it costs. A French brasserie would be different….

  • Gerry

    @ C – the brown microfiber living room furniture I descibled about looks GREAT in our brownstone living room it IS stylish and the R & F Showroom is just beautiful R & F offers all kinds of styles something for everyone good quality fashionable at affordable prices. And in 5 or 10 years when the things get old we will just throw it out buy new stuff I do NOT want any sofa I can die on I like to change things redecorate every few years.

  • Willowtowncop

    Anyplace that sells living room sets and bedroom sets as if everyone in middle America needed the same pieces because their houses were all exactly the same is not stylish.

    Bragging about your cocktail ottoman (what marketing genius came up with that one?) also knocks you down a few rungs on the stylish scale – its like new money driving around in a gaudy escalade so everyone will look at him and be impressed.

    It reminds me of the class theory of furniture – if you buy it new, you’re middle. If you’re upper you inherit it, if you’re lower, you buy it at the salvation army or find it on the street. I find people at opposite ends of the scale to be much more honest and genuine than those desparate types in the middle who think they’re special because they have a cocktail ottoman.

  • Gerry

    @ WillowtownCop — we have not bought anything near a “set” as described above we bought a brown sofa and a cocktail ottoman at R & F for a good price that look beautiful and is wearing well.

    Where would one put a cocktail with no ottoman?

    And I bet that your living room looks like *hit a trailer park tucked away in Willowtown.

    Our home was on the BHA House Tour most comments were complments about our minimalistic simplicity.

  • Mr. Crusty

    @Gerry “Our home was on the BHA House Tour most comments were complments about our minimalistic simplicity.”

    You sure they weren’t saying that at the very minimum you’re a simpleton?

  • shamrock

    @Gerry “And I bet that your living room looks like *hit a trailer park tucked away in Willowtown.”

    I mean, geez, is that really necessary!

  • Gerry

    @ Mr. Crusty – your opinion is NOT important to me YOU calling me simple is a laugh anyone who spends as much time on this blog as you do should read a few books find something else to do.

    @ shamrock – WillowtownCop said something mean about our living room and so I retaliated with my remark about his living room looking like a tralier park.

  • Mr. Crusty

    @ Gerry: “. . . you do should read a few books find something else to do.”

    Nah Gerry, I much rather point out your inadequacies.