Imminent Morris Brothers Closing Heralds ‘End of an Era’

After more than 60 years of outfitting children for summer camp and supplying their back-to-school clothes, Morris Brothers is soon shutting its doors for good.The family-owned Upper West Side store has lost its lease and cannot afford the new $1.5 million annual rent, the co-owner of the store, Barry Krumholtz, said. Previously, the rent was about $600,000 a year for the 5,000-square-foot storefront on Broadway and West 84th Street, which the store has occupied for 27 years. Previously, Morris Brothers occupied two other storefronts on Broadway, first on West 98th Street and later on West 85th Street.“I can’t fault the landlord for asking for what he wants. They sky’s the limit,” Mr. Krumholtz, whose father, Morris, opened the original store in 1943, said. But Mr. Krumholtz said the family would not pay the new price. “It’s not even close. It’s not even a negotiable item,” he said.Mr. Krumholtz said he did not know who would be renting the space, although he indicated the building ‘s owner, Eagle Court LLC, seemed to be looking for a national tenant to accompany the many other chain stores, pharmacies, and banks dotting the Upper West Side.Mr. Krumholtz, who at 65 has worked only at his family’s store and as a camp counselor in Pennsylvania many decades ago, said longtime customers have been flooding the store to say good-bye. This past weekend, he posted neon signs in the store windows that announced a total stock liquidation and the “End of an Era.”A customer dropped in yesterday to chat with a saleswoman she befriended decades ago when she shopped at Morris Brothers for her daughter and son, now 43 and 40. “I literally croaked when I saw,” the customer, Karen Moseska, said. “We came here for years, for school uniforms, camp clothes, name tags.”What started off as a store that carried infant and toddler clothing over the years shifted to merchandise for children and teenagers. While it bills itself as an official camp outfitter, and stocks sleeping bags, canteens, and sports gear, the store also carries trendier items to appeal to its teenage clientele.“We took a chance on bell bottoms 35 years ago because some young kids came to me and told me what they wanted,” Mr. Krumholtz said yesterday. “The salesman from Wrangler came in and I said, ‘I want that,’ and he said, ‘You’re crazy.'”Customers affectionately referred to the store as an “institution” they were sorry to see go.“I’ve been shopping here since I was 2,” Johanna Barr, 19, said yesterday as she carried an armload of clothing around the store. “When I was little, they were selling baby clothes, and when I got older, they switched. It’s sad.”“We make our annual run here,” Stacy Scheinberg said, referring to a pre-camp shopping spree for her children, ages 10, 13, and 15. “I have three kids and that means three stops.”Yesterday, both Mr. Krumholtz and the building ‘s managers agreed there were no hard feelings involved in the closing. “It was not something that we wanted, but circumstances change,” the general manager of Bi-Coastal Properties Inc., which manages the property, Bruno Gross, said. “As real estate taxes go up in the city of New York, in order for landlords to stay in business they need to raise rent.”Mr. Krumholtz said he would retire when the store closes. Other longtime employees were less certain about their futures.“Friday was a terrible day. I cried all day,” an employee of 44 years, Carmen Nieves, said. “We all have to go at some time,” she said.

Imminent Morris Brothers Closing Heralds ‘End of an Era’

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