“You have to make retail fun for the customer. I think old-fashioned things are comforting to people.” Penn
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“You have to make retail fun for the customer. I think old-fashioned things are comforting to people.” Penn
A shopkeeper in trendy SoHo hopes her boutique, sitting in a sea of empty storefronts, can get a boost from a game favored by the gray-haired set: bingo.
“You have to make retail fun for the customer,” said Fern Penn, whose Thompson Street store, Rosebud, will host “Bingo at the ‘Bud’” every Tuesday night next month. “I think old-fashioned things are comforting to people.”
The kimono store next to Rosebud has been empty since December. A men’s clothing store across the street moved out in August; its neighboring jewelry store is now packing. Vacancies abound on nearby Broome Street.
“It’s pretty bad down here,” Penn said.
SoHo, one of the city’s hottest shopping districts, saw its retail vacancy rate jump from 7.60 percent at the end of 2008 to 9.26 percent for this year’s first quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield figures. Smaller streets, like Thompson, are hurting more than bigger corridors like Broadway or Prince, Cushman’s executive vice president for retail Joanne Podell noted.
“These guys on Thompson are definitely getting a beating,” Podell said. “All these smaller spaces, incubators for designers, they’re not as compelling” in a downturn when people are looking for basics, she added.
Penn and two other shop owners have created “S3,” or “Shop Small Stores,” to promote mom-and-pops.
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In the July MMMpod, Young Veins talk about breaking away from Panic! at the Disco, Keith Lockhart talks about Buckwheat Zydeco throwing the Boston Pops for a loop, Zooey Deschanel talks about how Roy Orbison inspired a She & Him song, Derek Miller of Sleigh Bells talks about how awesome Funkadelic is, and we talk about how awesome Jimmy Cliff is, who in turn talks about Sam Cooke and divine intervention. An explosive show for July! Oh yeah, and we also test your knowledge of America songs in the MMMPod medley.
