Farewell, J. McLaughlin in Brooklyn Heights

By on August 27, 2014 11:23 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Commercial Real Estate, Shopping

Conventional wisdom has it that people in Brooklyn Heights who wear “preppy,” “WASPy,” “Ivy League” clothing all work in Manhattan and do their clothes shopping at Brooks Brothers or Paul Stuart or by mail order from L.L. Bean. C.W. has again been proved right. Just over four years ago we welcomed J. McLaughlin to a space on Hicks Street between Montague and Remsen. Now it is closing at the end of this week.

Update: A spokesperson for the chain tells BHB, “The store does not have plans to close this weekend. J.McLaughlin has decided not to renew their lease on the space and we hope to remain open until the end of the year.”

Bargains await at their current sale.

I’ll confess to having been impressed by their slightly off-beat take on prep classics; for example, horizontal wale corduroy pants. A couple of months ago I took advantage of a sale to buy a rep stripe tie that duplicated, in pattern and width, one that was popular during my mid-1960s college days.

I will especially miss comely Cape Cod native and store manager Lauren, shown in the photo above on the left, holding a kitten she adopted from a Brooklyn Bridge Animal Welfare Coalition event held outside the store in September of 2012.

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  • Hicksup

    Are you SURE it was 7 years ago? I don’t think that’s correct.
    Prove me wrong.

  • Hicksup

    Ok.. the linked post is from 2010. So that’s around 4 years. Thought so.

  • Just Saying

    Actually the rent was high so they didn’t renew their lease – it had nothing to do with lack of customers in the store – perhaps CW should get their facts straight.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com ClaudeScales

    You’re right, of course, and the post has been corrected.. Hazards of working late at night.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com ClaudeScales

    I’m not surprised that a rent increase was what triggered the closing, but I never did see much traffic at the store, either. Perhaps their prices were sufficiently high that they didn’t need to depend on volume.

  • Moni

    Guess we can look forward to another realtor’s office or nail parlor. How about another eyeglass store?

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com ClaudeScales

    Possibilities (pure speculation): (1) Dellarocca’s expands; (2) something that aims to cater to people staying at the Bossert, such as a gift/souvenir shop.

  • BrooklynBugle

    Even more reason to contribute to the editorial fund — Homer and Claude get to sleep! https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/brooklyn-bugle-editorial-fund-2015/wdgt/7880010

  • miriamcb

    How about a mini-drugstore?! :)

  • malanga es malanga

    Or, how about a good bar?

  • NickBC

    Someone connected with the store told me that the closing wasn’t because the rent was too high or too few customers. Instead, they were simply not offered a new lease. Which makes me think that Dellarocco’s wants to expand. It’s a shame, because I thought J McLaughlin was a great addition to the neighborhood.

  • David on Middagh

    Yes, it’s too bad. If you were drinking wine with your pizza and ruined your shirt, you could go right next door.

  • stuart

    a shame. where will the locals shop for their traditional colorful ethnic costumes now?

  • TonyWestfield

    David, I think Amazon.com has an “app” for that…the drone shows up and hovers overhead while dropping the new shirt so that it lands softly on top of the umbrella above the sidewalk table wherein the mishap occurred…the customer also removes the soiled garment and tosses it up to the drone, which can dry-clean right there on the spot and drop it back down, charge PayPal, etc…In the future, college students will study economics but it will be called “Amazonics.”