Beloved West Village boutiques Albertine and Claudine just welcomed another member into their Christopher Street family: Albertine General. Looks like owner Kyung Lee will truly be ruling the whole block (all three are literally located on the same stretch of turf between Greenwich Ave. and Waverly).
That's fine by us as we've been fans of Lee's stores for quite some time and enjoyed both Albertine and Claudine for some memorable shopping sprees. When we first reported on the opening of Albertine General back in August Kyung's plan was to close Claudine, consolidate it's stock (which is comprised of slightly younger, lower priced labels) with Albertine's and use the Albertine space to encompass both. Lucky us, she changed her mind, renewed the Claudine lease and forged forward with concept store Albertine General.
The store officially opened last week and carries vintage homegoods, art, jewelry, an antique piano, perfumes and a variety of gifty items like vintage postcards, antique tin pill cases, and even a set of silver spoons with the names of past presidents engraved on the handles (yup- seriously amazing stuff!). In usual Lee fashion the space is curated beautifully- the kind of place you'd just as much like to spend an afternoon hanging out in as shopping. Madame Fortuna jewelry is Kyung's current obsession- in particular beautiful charm bracelets which are one of a kind with humorous and thoughtful messages comprised of what appear to be vintage charms.
Albertine General is located at 17 Christopher St. between Greenwich Avenue and Waverly Place
