Urban Outfitters shutters longtime store near Union Square

Most mask mandates are gone and the number of people vaccinated is up, but the pandemic isn’t over for retailers.

Case in point Urban Outfitters, whose longtime store near Union Square is now closed, according to its website. A strong first quarter earnings report the company turned in, which sent the stock rising Wednesday morning, couldn’t help the Manhattan location.

Urban Outfitters had been at its two-story spot at 526 Sixth Avenue since 1999. It leased the 26,500-square-foot space from Mosbacher Properties Group, property records show.

As of 2015, when its lease was scheduled to expire, the company paid approximately $68 a foot for ground-floor, cellar and subcellar space. It extended that lease but the term was not known. It was also unclear precisely when the location closed, but its demise was mourned by fans who took to Twitter. “end of an era,” one wrote.

Mosbacher declined to comment and Urban Outfitters did not respond to requests for comment.

In Tuesday’s earnings call, the retailer reported revenue at $927 million, about 7 percent above the same pre-pandemic period in 2019. For the three months ending April 30, the company opened 12 new locations, including four Urban Outfitters stores. It did not report any Urban Outfitters store closures during that time. But it did close two Free People stores and one Anthropologie location.

Last June, Michael Shah’s Delshah Capital also terminated Free People’s 6,800-square-foot lease at 58-60 Ninth Avenue, after the retailer missed two months’ rent. Delshah filed a lawsuit against Free People a month later, seeking backrent plus the amount that would have been due for the remainder of the lease, for a total of nearly $11 million.

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