Marty says: Eat! Shop! It's good for you!
Marty’s back at it again, sponsoring the third annual Shop Brooklyn and doing his damnedest to drum up some business for our local mom and pops (and one uncle) from now through Aug. 22.
More than 225 locations are participating, and some deals are… well, better than others … but the list is worth a look over to see if anything strikes your fancy. Here’s a quick rundown of what kind of deals you can find: 
MoMA-store looks, Ikea pricetag. The new Tradig Bowl, $24.99.
Even if your iPhone fund went to student loans and the price of a single Chanel clog is more than your share of the rent, there’s one product launch we can all get in on: IKEA’s annual catalog release.
The print version, won’t be in local stores for a few more weeks, but the online 2011 catalog is now available for browsing.
New products officially launched in August have been quietly appearing in stores throughout the summer (some are not yet available online) while a few old favorites have dropped in price. The highlights:
The Community Bookstore. Photo by Annie Wang.
Back in the day, you knew your neighborhood used bookstore. Some of us knew all three of them. Now, these dusty, quirky, often-malodorous treasure troves of recycled literature are a rare, but hearty, Brooklyn breed. But if you know where to look, you can still find a home—and even make a little cash—for your boxes of yellowed, dog-eared pages. Or you can pick up a few of someone else’s. Here’s our guide to Brooklyn’s used bookstores—from dust to dollar-value.
Falling prices landing soon?
Like professional soccer, Budweiser American Ale and turning off your car alarm, megaultrahyper retailer Walmart has never really caught on in New York City. But don’t think they’re sitting there in Arkansas saying to themselves: “Forget it, Jake. It’s Target Town.” News came out this week that Walmart is planning yet another New York City invasion, and this time they could land on the shores of Jamaica Bay at the new Gateway II shopping center, reports Crain’s New York.
Walmart (whose total square footage of its stores is larger than Manhattan, btw) has attempted a few other incursions into the city before. But every time they try to crack the city, community and labor groups rise up in protest and block the way. Community leaders in Jamaica Bay are already vowing a fight too, but maybe they should save their energy. Because even if Walmart does come to Brooklyn, that doesn’t mean Brooklyn will come to Walmart.
The next time the words ‘going out of business’ start giving you a mega-sale arrhythmia, stop for a second and take a breath. Then maybe skip the trip altogether. We just stumbled upon this ABC News story on store liquidation “sales” with even higher prices than the stores had before. The Dec. ‘08 exposé (some caveats are timeless) featured now-closed Linens ‘n Things and Circuit City stores at the ends of their lives, under the ownership of liquidation companies there to get rid of all the merch. But the liquidators are profit-seekers too—they come in, charge what they want and still call the thing a blow-out.
A Timex digital watch is $60.
As you may have heard, Trader Joe’s and Urban Outfitters are getting a new neighbor, and his name is Barney. Come this September, Barneys Co-op will open up a new location on Atlantic and Court, solidifying Atlantic Avenue as Brooklyn’s upscale shopping destination. In case you’re wondering if this is a good thing or a bad thing for Brooklyn, and what, really, the difference is between Barneys New York and Barneys Co-op, let’s call the Co-op the artsy little sister.
By now you’ve heard that Illinois-based Walgreens is buying out local rival Duane Reade. Maybe you’re shedding a tear at the news, but before you go out and buy tissues, which store is likely to have a better price on them?
Good news, New Yorkers: Walgreens prices beat Duane Reade (slightly) in our check of 15 essential (and some not-so-essential) items, and the overall price for our trip to Walgreens was about $30 cheaper. The companies said Duane Reade’s 257 stores will keep operating under their name after the buyout, but consolidation is inevitable.
Our undercover price scoping took us behind the automatic doors at the Williamsburg Duane Reade on North 5th and the Walgreens on Union Ave. While the price differences were often minor, Walgreens offers a wider variety of generic products, a noisier store, and a security-protected deodorant case to ward off obsessive-compulsive (and sweaty) kleptomaniacs. And while Duane Reade is unarguably the more aesthetically appealing of the two stores, it fails to have such necessities as the Inspire Waterproof Rubber Sheet Protector and the famed “As Seen on TV” and celebrity perfume aisles (Walgreens graces its floors with FOUR different varieties of Celine Dion fragrances). Check out the results of the study after the jump, with each round’s winner in blue.
We do! This ring from the Claypot made the cut.
When you’ve found the dame of your dreams, you want to give her the engagement ring of hers: one her friends will gush over, her family will discuss at the dinner table, and her cousin studying abroad will demand to see pics of on Facebook. While not everyone’s into mega-rocks (thankfully for you) even the most non-trad alterna girl wants a ring that she considers beautiful—whatever her taste may be. And you don’t have to eviscerate your savings accounts to find it. With a maximum budget of $1,000, we visited local jewelry stores in search of some baubles for every kind of Brooklyn bride.
Red lips have been the perennial go-to since Cleopatra. Perhaps that’s because anyone with enough nerve can really rock a true red—it gives contrast to the fair and pop to the dark-skinned. In winter, being swaddled in bulky coats and hiding hat hair becomes a statement with a properly-hued pout. Here, reviews of five lipsticks available at our local Duane Reade, rated with a little help from a crimson-lipped friend. Just go easy on the eyeliner, in the name of all that’s holy!
We don’t have tons of photographic evidence (this pic is from the Danish site because the U.S. one is so lame) but from the looks of things, H&M just got a big shipment of early spring merch, and we’re all over it—especially the jackets. There are so many this season, from cropped, Michael-Jackson-meets-Marc-by-Marc-Jacobs military styles to Banana Republic-ish trenches whose quality is so far beyond their $49.95 price tags it’d be foolish not to buy two. Seems H&M’s prices have crept up a bit as well, but deservedly so—the tailoring is clever and impeccable. Seriously. Other major themes: Donna Karan-ish wrap tops, Prada-ish patterned skirts and really cool stovepipe pants that must recall some other-ish designer (Alexander Wang-ish?). Anyway, stop by H&M (before it’s all picked over) and let us know if you agree.
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