(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
Orchard Street isn’t just losing galleries — it’s also saying goodbye to some long-standing shops.
Sheherazade — which sells handmade home furnishings from Morocco, India and Turkey — will vacate its storefront of 14 years following a rent increase, said owner Rachid Ouassil. Currently, Sheherazade’s lease runs through the end of April, but Ouassil says he may try to extend it for an additional month as he searches for a new location on the Upper West Side. He’s also considering an additional home for Sheherazade on the West Coast.
“We can’t close this beautiful business,” Ouassil said. “It’s very unfortunate. At lot of good stores in the area are moving out. The city, the BIDs — they’re not helping to bring the night traffic, or traffic.”
(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
Ouassil said that the decrease in customers on his block, near Delancey Street, began in 2009 or 2010, after the start of the recession. “To be honest, it’s hard to blame it just on the area.”
Prices on Sheherazade’s inventory — which includes bedding, tables, chairs, rugs, pottery, lighting and wallhangings — have been reduced between 20 and 60 percent.