BUCKTOWN/WICKER PARK — New York City-based fashion designer Steven Alan plans to close his Damen Avenue outpost at the southeast corner of Damen and Wabansia avenues.
Over the weekend, a "farewell sale" sign went up in the window of the storefront at 1659 N. Damen Ave.
"We're sad too. But thank you for having us," the sign says.
On Monday, Nathan Jackson, a manager, said the shop's last day will be Sunday.
"I will miss the customers. We have a great clientele," Jackson said.
Through Sunday, all clothing is 40 percent off, and the store's remaining selection of unisex eyewear frames — normally about $200 — will be sold for as little as $15 during a Friday through Sunday optical sample sale, Jackson said.
A representative from the building's owner and Steven Alan's landlord, New York City-based Jenel Management, declined to comment.
Alice Chin, a spokeswoman for Steven Alan, was not immediately able to provide further details on why the chain decided to exit.
Chin said the nearest physical store [to Bucktown] will be in New York City but "online is always open."
While two people are going to lose their jobs as a result of the closure, Chin said that one or two workers are transferring to a New York City store and another one is coming to the chain's corporate office for a summer internship in buying.
Steven Alan has 21 locations in the United States and only one in Chicago, according to its website.
Alan got his start as a buyer in New York in 1994 and was the first boutique to carry eclectic clothing lines such as Sophia Coppola's Milk Shed and Daryl K, which Kuhn described as "a rockish modernized" line of clothing.
Alan went on to develop his own lines later in the '90s and is known for his signature shirts.
Jackson described the Alan's clothing as "accessible high-end fashion."
In the fall of 2013, Steven Alan replaced Riley, an independently-owned boutique that closed earlier that same year.
Bucktown resident Jill Levy lamented the closure of the chain's only Chicago store.
"While they were a national store, they had a very neighborhood-ey feel and great clothes! I am really sad about this one. It seems like there are so many vacancies around here now,” Levy said.
