Courtesy The RealReal
The RealReal is HereHere
The online luxury consignment retailer expands its physical footprint with a 2,500-square-foot outpost at the former location of BookCourt
New store, new storefront
This past year has not been kind to retailers. The pandemic hit supply chains hard in 2020 due to trade restrictions, and consumption across the board declined due to lockdowns imposed by governments globally.
But as many brick-and-mortal retail continues to struggle with the effects of the ongoing Covid outbreak, some are moving from the online space to IRL.
Luxury consignment store TheRealReal landed in Brooklyn last week, opening a 2500 square-foot store in Cobble Hill. Known for secondhand upscale clothes at marked-down prices. The shop is the third location in NYC for the online store.
The RealReal takes over the storefront on 163 Court Street, which was once home to much-beloved indie bookstore BookCourt that closed in 2016. The location got a recent redesign, from a distinctive 19th-century storefront to a sleek (or, depending on who you ask, charmless) modern entrance. Inside, TheRealReal’s shelves are stocked with vintage pieces, luxury jewelry and watches, and home goods. A hand-painted tile mural from Brooklyn artist Cassie Griffin splashes across the wall.
The RealReal comes to the area on the heels of the closure of Bird earlier in January. Founded in Park Slope in 1999, the bougie independent boutique was a Brooklyn fashion destination for 21 years. But even before the pandemic online shopping had made a dent in the space, with stalwarts like like Opening Ceremony and Barneys closing their own doors.
But The RealReal also hints at another trend, especially as it joins a horde of direct-to-consumer fashion sites-turned-stores in the area, including Indochino and Bonobos on Court Street.
Cobble Hill’s location functions as a “core” store, with a niche customer, opposed to SoHo’s flagship. Buzzwords for TheRealReal’s Brooklyn shopper? Vintage, ready-to-wear, bohemian, and “gorpcore”—outdoorsy, utilitarian streetwear. With all of Brooklyn doing a pandemic’s worth of closet-purging, there will no doubt be plenty of trendy pieces to pick over in Cobble Hill.
