SOHO — One of Broadway's most well-known businesses may be getting pushed off SoHo's busy thoroughfare — but they're not giving up yet.
Pearl River Mart owner Ching Yeh Chen said the Asian specialty store is likely to leave its home at 477 Broadway when their lease expires at the end of the year.
Chen said they currently pay about $100,000 per month for the three sprawling floors they have occupied since 2003, but her landlord warned her he plans to up the rent to a point that is "unsustainable" for her business.
"We just can't afford it anymore," she said. "They're going to raise it four or five times."
The impending closure was first reported by Crain's New York. The building's owner, Nathan Baden, reportedly told Crain's that lease negotiations with Pearl River Mart were ongoing, and that the store could end up staying on another floor in the building.
Baden did not immediately respond to phone messages, but Chen confirmed that her landlord said he was still open to trying to help the store stay close to its longtime home.
"If the landlord can come up with an affordable, sustainable price, [maybe we can] stay at the same place," Chen said. "Probably upstairs is better."
Chen said rent is not solely to blame, though.
"In this Internet shopping era, to have such a big brick-and-mortar store might not be sustainable," she explained.
Pearl River Mart has an online store, but Chen said those sales account for only a fraction of the store's income.
If they relocate, whether to a single floor in their current building or to another space entirely, Chen said she knows they need to restructure how they operate, and probably "downscale" their whole operation.
"It just feels so fun to shop here, you see things you don’t see anywhere else," Chen said. "But we have to reorganize our merchandise, really select the ones that truly represent Pearl River."
She envisions phasing out some of the generic items she carries — toothbrushes, toothpaste, things that can be found elsewhere — but hanging on to the unique items people seek out.
"A regular pot, I don't have to have it," she explained. "On the other hand, a bamboo steamer is something I have to have.
"I do not need furry boots or whatever, but I have to have those kung-fu shoes," she said, referring to the colorful cloth slippers Pearl River has sold for decades.
She's hoping the media attention to the store's closure may catch the eye of some entrepreneurial venture capitalist "who can share the vision, who can see the value" in what Pearl River does, and "find a new niche for Pearl River in this era."
"It has to be someone who is truly an entrepreneur," Chen said.
Chen and her husband opened Pearl River in Chinatown in the 1970s with the help of some "more established" Chinese immigrants who invested in the business. She and her husband are the principal owners of the store, but there are still roughly 30 shareholders, she said.
"Those people also shared our vision, that we wanted to build a bridge between East and West," Chen said. "We were one of the pioneers to bring goods from China almost directly."
Chen remains optimistic there will be a next phase for Pearl River, and is hopeful that "some young, creative financier" will take an interest in growing the business.
"If you share the vision, come talk to us, hopefully we can work something out," Chen said, addressing her anonymous angel investor. "We’d like to see the legacy go on."
