Opening and Closing - How Business Are Faring on Orchard Street South of Delancey

Historic stores that are shuttering (or about to) and the businesses that are replacing them.

Decades old mom and pop shops are an endangered species in the Lower East Side, but even the high-end boutiques taking them over are struggling to survive. Neighborhood blog Bowery Boogie reports that Shop, a women's clothing store just across from the museum, shuttered less than a year after opening. The recession, coupled with the usual culprit, high rent, are probably to blame. On a more positive note, Orchard Street's restaurants, like Little Giant on the corner of Broome, which is always packed at lunchtime, seem to be thriving. And several of the neighborhood's historic lingerie shops, like A.W. Kaufman's, established in 1924 and run by the same family for three generations, are still open for business.



Owners of a trendy boutique closed their shop at 94 Orchard Street, but still exist online. Photo courtesy of Bowery Boogie.

-posted by Liana Grey