(Photo: Kate Beaudoin)
Owner Ali Liu says Ad Hoc decided to open a second location in Greenpoint because they’re worried about over-saturation at the Wythe Avenue location in Williamsburg. “It’s gotten really crowded over in the Williamsburg area,” Liu says. “In Greenpoint, it’s more how Wythe used to be a few years ago.”
Liu is all about supporting local business. “The whole concept of opening up the Bedford location was so that we could help support the local community in representing their product and their merchandise,” she says. It doesn’t hurt business, she notes, that “people tend to be bigger spenders on the Bedford side, obviously, because of how the neighborhood has changed.”
But it’s not all roses for Liu and her crew in Greenpoint. “I’ve gotten some really strange distribution turf war backlash from certain small businesses,” Liu says. “I would say it’s more the new businesses that have moved into the neighborhood, and not so much the original community members of Greenpoint.”
She continues, “Because it’s very saturated, and it’s getting more and more competitive, I think a lot of people are freaking out about their sustainability as a business as well… It’s been a little bit strange where certain stores are like, ‘You can’t carry this brand, because we carry this particular segment of this brand, and because we’ve been here longer than you have.’ Even though they’re a good 15-20 minute walk away, I’ve gotten some strange, passive-aggressive backlash from showroom representatives that have called me up and told me, ‘You can’t carry this style or that style.’”
But Liu is quick to point out that the store’s reception has been “overwhelmingly positive,” despite the strange phone calls. “If you support your community friends, and you’re all supportive to each other, I feel like there’s enough business to go around.”