Housing Works Thrift Shop Closing March 13

By on March 3, 2017 5:24 pm in 11201, Brooklyn Heights, charity, Commercial Real Estate, News, Real Estate, Shopping

The Housing Works Thrift Shop, which has graced the spot between Kiehl’s and Haagen-Dazs on Montague Street just off Henry for some years, and which has provided your correspondent and his wife many bargains as well as a place to donate gently used but no longer needed items to serve the cause of the homeless and people with HIV, will close for business at the end of the day, Monday, March 13. The store is still accepting donations and is having a clearance sale, with all items marked down 50%. It will be closed on Wednesday, March 8 to prepare for a final spring event on the 9th, and will remain open for business through the 13th.

A staff member said the store is closing because the building has been sold “and the new owner doesn’t want us here.” There are no plans to relocate the store in the neighborhood.

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  • Tommy

    Community outrage is great. Upper management has abandoned the wonderful friendly and hardworking staff that has turned this store around in the last year. Such a shame that housing works doesn’t care about the community that supports this store. This was a busy fun engaged store to shop in. Is the matter of more rent really worth giving up on an important part of brookyln? The park slop store just doesn’t measure up.

    Tommy, a neighbor

  • Banet

    It’s not upper management who’s to blame. The new owners of the building aren’t renewing their lease.

  • skb

    This makes me so sad!! I’m really going to miss Housing Works being there. Thanks for sharing the info.

  • Eddyde

    Nothing you say reflects the story given in the post. are you privy to additional information?

  • Anne Marie Sisto

    I agree they were really nice folks who worked there. I do like the Park Slope store too.

  • Stefano P.

    He’s just one of those neighborhood cranks. Capitalism is here my friend, whether its upper management or landlords.

  • AEB

    No! The only retail spot on Montague, or in the Heights for that matter, of any real interest–never mind the many bargains one was able to score there.

    What a time in which we live! If one was (benightedly) unaware of the threat of greed to the perpetuation of community-serving institutions, well, here’s a handy reminder.

  • Jorale-man

    That’s a shame. Who wants to bet that the storefront will sit empty for years now, just like the old Starbucks space? Retail on Montague feels like a case of 1 step forward, 2 steps back.

  • CassieVonMontague

    Not good news. Wonderful neighborhood store will be missed. I worry the landlord doesn’t know what he’s doing. Banana Republic and Starbucks spaces have sat empty, one for years, down the street.

    Anyone remember when 122 Montague used to be Mammy’s Pantry?

    http://www.brownstoner.com/history/past-and-present-122-montague-street/

  • StudioBrooklyn

    …but the palm reader soldiers on…?!?!

  • AndyHeights

    That is funny. What is the story with that place? Do they have actually have a
    clientele?

  • AEB

    Yes, they actually do. In fact, they’re busy, sometimes to the point of being crowded, more often than not.

    I’ve always found the customer mix very gratifying; locals of all stripes, the young and old, hip and not so, all checking out the merchandise. The sales people are equally cross-the-board.

    Very displeased with the idea of all this going away because someone values personal gain (as he or she sees it) above, yes, community responsibility.

  • B.

    Do you remember Montague Street from half a century ago? Much nicer than now. Which is to say, things change. I do not approve; but I am resigned.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com/ Claude Scales

    I think AndyHeights meant the fortune telling parlor above Housing Works, which I presume will also be leaving–unless, that is, its owner is the buyer of the building,

  • FoodArtforKids.com

    Montague has the potential of being Brooklyn’s Champs Elysee (or maybe Rue St, Germain – more adequate); with its path leading from the court house to the promenade; the nice trees and good transportation; yet it has been a failure for so long, with a mix of mediocre stores and less than stellar eateries. I wonder what will come of the building that houses HW; another white elephant?

  • StudioBrooklyn

    I always assumed psychic boutiques were just fronts for money laundering operations but I just read an article on Vice that seemed to point to the notion that they’re actually so in-demand that they manage to thrive in high rent areas. I’m baffled.

  • Sen. Bob Forehead

    This is a shame, I love this store. Also all the people who work there have been really great. If you rent in this nabe it’s only a matter of time. Our building has also been sold and Sen. Bob will be moving on. I hope the Hts can survive the massive development happening, but something has definitely been lost. When Montero’s goes, stick a fork in it, this will be Manhattan Heights.

  • AndyHeights

    Exactly! I’ve always been curious to go inside to see what exactly goes on, but never really wanted to take the plunge!

  • AEB

    Ah, yes: I see.

  • cool

    If they got rid of parking on at least one side, and widened the sidewalk, that would really open up the street to be a grand avenue. The sidewalk, as it is, is too cramped and narrow to make shopping enjoyable there.

  • Andrew Porter

    I too am shocked by the closing of this store, to which I contributed hundreds of items since they opened—and bought many things there, including a DVD player, many books, DVDs, and other useful items.

    You would think that they could have a place where locals could drop off items. I know the Montague Street store was a net exporter to the other stores.

    Here is a list of the other Housing Works Thrift Stores; the nearest one to the Heights is likely the one on Chambers Street in Manhattan:

    http://tinyurl.com/6m8m2xu