Urban Outfitters Chose Faux Storefronts Over Historic Theater

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The Shophound points out an actual irony behind Urban Outfitters's incoming "ironic" tribute to little, independently-owned businesses on the Upper West Side. Not only will the hipster mega-brand's four fake storefronts reside in the first floor of a luxury development—exactly the sort of building that usually squashes any small mom-and-pops that happen to get in its way—but in picking that location, UO bypassed the chance to open in a genuine New York City landmark.

Initially, the plan was to put the Upper West's second Urban in the Metro cinema, an Art Deco theater on Broadway between 99th and 100th. The building's ornate interior was gutted after it closed in 2005, but the dramatic facade remains. Apparently, though, fixing it up was too much work for Urban, so it wound up taking the new spot on the other side of Broadway instead. Which makes sense: Urban's made a mint on the assumption that people prefer buying neat and clean faux vintage to finding and rehabilitating real thrift-store clothing, and this is just the real estate equivalent.
· Urban Outfitters Passes Up Real Vintage Storefront For Fake Ones [Shophound]
· Urban Outfitters "Ironically" Celebrates Old-School New York [Racked NY]