WILLIAMSBRIDGE—When we first broke the story that The Bronx got its first full-fledged art store in 2015, Bronxites cheered for the arrival of Artist & Craftsman.
The worker owned store quickly became a fixture for many Bronx organizations not just because they were the go to art store for our borough’s artistic community but more importantly through their generous donations of supplies for many events throughout their time here.
They became a real partner in our communities across the entire Bronx.
Sadly, today they will be closing down partly due to not generating sufficient sales to keep their massive 8,000 square foot White Plains Road store open and in part do to a somewhat recent buyout of one of the partners who owned a larger share in the business.
Ironically, today and this week were some of their busiest ever as Bronx artists flocked to get their supplies before their closing.
But all is not lost as Rob Dingman, a senior regional manager for Artist & Craftsman, told us that they are looking to come back to The Bronx in 2018 as long as things go according to plan.
Per Dingman, they need roughly 10 to 12 months to regroup and get back in financial shape to begin the process anew and look for a spot perhaps with higher foot traffic and better accessibility.
They are truly committed to figuring out a way to make it work for their return to our borough so fret not, this will be temporary.
Oh and best of all? Artist & Craftsman will continue to support the Bronx community even though they won’t be physically here. They’ll be at Boogie on the Boulevard among others.
To all our friends at Artist & Craftsman, thank you for everything you did in the past almost 2 years and look forward to welcoming you back again!
This post was last modified on April 21, 2017 4:46 pm
Leave a Comment