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Surma the Ukrainian Shop Will Close Mid-June, Owner Confirms

By Allegra Hobbs | May 20, 2016 4:49pm | Updated on May 22, 2016 10:36pm
 Surma will continue selling its Ukrainian books and goods until mid-June.
Surma will continue selling its Ukrainian books and goods until mid-June.
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DNAinfo/Allegra Hobbs

EAST VILLAGE — Surma the Ukrainian Shop will close by mid-June, the store’s owner has confirmed to DNAinfo New York.

Markian Surmach, proprietor of the 98-year-old shop at 11 E. Seventh St., has confirmed rumors first published in Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York that the neighborhood mainstay is in its final days, though he declined to comment further.

The shop hawks books and traditional Ukrainian goods such as hand-woven rugs, ceramics, and woodworks.

Surmach’s grandfather opened the shop in 1918 as a service to the East Village’s Ukrainian immigrant community, and it has been in the family ever since, according to a piece published last year in The Ukrainian Weekly on the store’s storied past and lasting value to the Ukrainian community.

“As my own children have always enjoyed this very special Ukrainian cultural place in New York City, I’m hoping that my grandchildren and their children will also come to experience their ancestry here at Surma,” wrote Mike Buryk in the piece.

Meanwhile, the 40th Annual St. George Ukrainian Street Festival will take over the store’s block Friday through Sunday, bringing traditional Ukrainian folk dance, song, food, and art to the street. 

The festival, which kicks off Friday at 6:30 p.m., is sponsored by the nearby Saint George Ukrainian Catholic Church, sitting a few doors down from the shop at 30 E. Seventh Street.