Every other week, Jennifer Mankins, owner of the Bird boutiques, tells us about the new 2,500-square-foot store on Grand Street in Williamsburg that she's getting ready to open. Up this week: a review of the store's progress (including the dumbwaiter!), post-Paris trip.
After spending seven days in Paris for fashion week, I was anxious and excited to get back and see the progress on the store. Everything is moving quickly now so there was a lot to review and discuss.
Exterior front: The metal gates surrounding the store have been removed as well as every other vertical bar in front of the windows. The storefront is lighter and more open and accessible. It is beautiful. All the old grout around the glass sidewalk panels has been removed, and the metal frame has been cleaned and repainted.
Exterior back: The big antique metal gates have also been removed in the back. They are being stored onsite for now, because I think my landlords are going to salvage them and take them upstate. The small glass window has been removed and the frame measured for new glass. The plywood has been removed from the garage door opening giving a much better sense of how the finished storefront will look. We have some new graffiti back there and are trying to figure out what steps we can take to discourage this in the future. Is there a seal we can apply to the brick to make the paint come off easily? What about preventing acid etching on the glass? Will lights and cameras be enough?
