Urban Sidewalk, which closed up shop at 218 Columbus Ave. on Oct. 17th, reopened for business Jan. 6th in a space across the street at 241 Columbus Ave.
The old store was tightly packed into a space that was about 14.5 feet long and 10 feet wide, and the new space is about triple the size, with large, welcoming front windows, high ceilings and more room between displays, offering a more relaxed browsing experience. The shop moved because Maritime Wine Tasting Studio wanted the space as a front entrance off of Columbus, and owners Desiree Miller and Marcus Zhou wanted a larger storefront.
The boutique has become a go-to place for affordable, unique clothing, gift items and accessories such as scarves, belts, sunglasses and jewelry for men and women. Zhou and Miller sell local designers and things they "modify in-house," Zhou said. "I try to keep it as local as possible, but I started to open it up because I wanted more variety," he added.
Unlike many of the posh boutiques in the area, Urban Sidewalk offers reasonably priced items. Most pants and tops are less than $40, t-shirts are in the $20 range button-up shirts are in the $30s-$40s, and dresses are in the $30s-$50s. Jewelry is $9.50–$29, and Zhou said a third of the sales are jewelry, maybe because it's an easy-to-carry souvenir or a good present for someone. "So many times, [customers are] on their way to a birthday dinner and need a gift," Miller said.
Desiree Miller and Marcus Zhou.
Zhou said customers have been excited to see them reopen; the shop has a four-and-a-half star rating on Yelp, with customers praising everything from the nickel- and lead-free jewelry to the "great eye for design." He added that the new space is more visible than the one across the street: "We'd get people who'd lived in the neighborhood so long and never noticed [us]."
The store's previous home. Photo: Urban Sidewalk/Facebook
A friend of Zhou's originally opened the shop at the previous location in 2009 under a different name, but it wasn't doing well. Zhou took it over in 2012, working seven days a week and remodeling it at night, and turned a profit the first month. He builds all of the racks and displays. "I didn't consider it my store," he said. "I considered it the customers' store, so I listened to what they wanted."
He also started getting new merchandise every week or month instead of once a season to keep things fresh. About half of the customers in the summer are visitors, he said, but in the winter, 80 percent of business is local: "People on their way home from work; people relaxing and checking out the cafes; party people at night."
Zhou holds a shirt by local designer Kris Alan.
Zhou and Miller said they plan to display work by local artists and host artist events and "silly events" in the spacious new digs, so stay tuned to the Urban Sidewalk Facebook page for details. Hours are noon–8pm Sunday, Wednesday and Thursday, 2–7:30pm Monday–Tuesday, and noon–10pm Friday–Saturday.
