By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
John Koch Antiques, at 201 West 84th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway, is closing its Upper West Side store at the end of November and moving to Long Island City. The store started in a warehouse in Chelsea in 1984 and moved to the current location in 2014, John, the owner, told WSR. It provides estate services: buying vintage and antique items, such as art, lighting, mirrors, furniture, and rugs from homes, and reselling them. They also accept donations. “We were originally a warehouse business and needed more storage space,” John explained. “We were looking to relocate, but COVID put everything on hold.”
John Koch Antiques has supplied props over the years for film and television productions, including “Law and Order,” “Mad Men,” and “The Wolf of Wall Street.” The new space in Long Island City is five times larger than the UWS retail shop. John told us that 80% of their sales go to the TV and film industry, with companies based in Long Island City, so the location makes sense. “I am really going to miss the Upper West Side,” John said. “I had a woman in here yesterday crying, it was so sweet. We were really a part of the community.”
Burlington, a retail discount department store, formerly known as Burlington Coat Factory, has opened at 808 Columbus Avenue (near 99th Street). The previous tenant was Michael’s, the art supply store. Burlington carries men’s, women’s, and children’s clothing, footwear, accessories, home goods, cosmetics, toys, gifts, and, of course, coats.
IRO, a high-end European clothing store at 241 Columbus (at 71st Street), has closed. IRO sold men’s and women’s clothing, shoes, jackets and coats, and accessories. The company has stores across Europe (in Madrid, Paris, Lisbon, Barcelona, and London). Its other locations in NYC are on the Upper East Side and in Soho. A representative from the Soho store told WSR that the “Columbus Avenue store was never busy and not bringing in any income, so management decided to close it.” (Thanks to Pamela for the tip.)
The annual Columbus Circle Holiday Market is returning on November 29th to the southwest corner of Central Park. The outdoor fair will feature more than 130 local artisans, designers and vendors selling art, jewelry, home goods, and food. The market will run through December 24th. Its hours are 11am to 8pm, except on Sundays, when it closes at 7pm.
Salon Gabor at 222A Columbus (at 71st Street) closed on November 15th. A handwritten sign in the window thanks and apologizes to its customers, saying they are closing because of “lease rental arrangements.” The business was established in 1995 by Gabor Szanto, who found “his passion while working at his mother’s hair salon,” the company wrote on Yelp. Gabor, a specialist in hair coloring, started out at the bygone Henri Bendel department store on 57th Street.
Burlington was disappointing, I left after ten minutes. Does not compare to the one on 23rd st.
If only Harry’s Burritos would come back!
Oh yes!!! I was so upset when they closed!!!
Everyone misses Harry’s. Do they still have an NYC location?
Yes!! I miss Harry’s also! Great food options and incredible drinks! I was sad when they closed.
Harry’s really left a gap in UWS nacho options.
So sad to hear that John Koch Antiques is moving.
A lovely store – always a joy to walk past the window displays.
John Koch was also incredibly helpful to relatives trying to deal with furniture in an estate.
A real loss to the neighborhood
It looked good from the sidewalk; I’ll give you that. But it wasn’t anything special on the inside.
I root for the success of almost every store in the neighborhood and don’t like empty store fronts. I think that the John Koch location will be hard to fill, especially with construction starting soon next door. So I am not happy that they are leaving.
However, I once brought in some items to see if he was interested in buying them or consigning them. Most of them were nice items in good condition (better condition than most of the items he sells). I had done a lot of research and knew roughly what they were worth – it was not garbage, and it was similar in style to much of what he sells. He was rude and condescending rather than politely saying no thank you.
We are all entitled to our bad days. But this left a really bad taste in my mouth.
Carlos, it might be that your items had general value but not for the hyper-local residential market which favors mid-century modern or for the film industry which apparently is the majority of their business.
Why doesn’t the holiday market have a Santa? They had one years ago and it was terrific. Way, way better experience than the dept stores.
Sad to see a store close on the UWS, but I won’t miss John Koch Antiques. WAY overpriced for items in not great condition. I once went in asking to buy something in the window and was told it wasn’t for sale, along with most items in the window. I mean, you want to make money, right?! Anyway, I, too, found him to be miserable to deal with.
Bring back Michaels!
I miss Michael’s!
I only recently saw Koch Antiques for the first time. Tucked away on the side street, I didn’t even realize they were there. I popped in and thought the store was very cramped, so I do think they should have a bigger space, but there are plenty of empty spaces on the upper west side. I thought they had a very interesting array of time period and pieces, and by my standards I thought their prices were very reasonable. I never bought from them, but the saleswoman who was there seemed nice enough to me, so I am not sure about the comments here. I really wish they would consider staying in another UWS location, as we have very few antique stores left.
FYI it looks like Oaxaca Taco on Amsterdam between 80th and 81st may be closed, I walked by last night and for the second time it was empty with bottles and food containers abandoned on the tables pretty weird
I miss Michael’s, and I know it won’t be coming back. But why did they open a Burlington, right next to TJMaxx? They always have such similar merchandise.
I am fairly certain John Koch Antiques has been at that particular location since prior to 2014, unless it was a different antique dealer before then.