Beacon’s Closet exits Williamsburg due to high rents

88 North 11th Street in Williamsburg
88 North 11th Street in Williamsburg

Popular vintage clothing store Beacon’s Closet is leaving its Williamsburg flagship of 11 years for Greenpoint — another victim of the area’s rising retail rents.

The retailer’s exit from 88 North 11th Street will allow next-door neighbor Vice magazine to expand its headquarters. The high rents through Williamsburg have led Beacon’s Closet to look elsewhere. Neil Dolgin, co-president of Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates, told Crain’s that rents on Williamsburg’s side streets are approaching $60 per square foot — a six-fold increase from 10 years ago.

“It seems like a lot of landlords are assigning arbitrary pricing to their spaces and just waiting to see what big fish or national chain will come and take the bait,” said Beacon’s founder Carrie Peterson.

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Beacon’s, which has shops in the West Village and Park Slope, will instead open an outpost at 74 Guernsey Street in Greenpoint, where it signed a lease for 7,500 square feet on the ground floor. [Crain’s]Mark Maurer