(Photo: Daniel Maurer)
Williamsburg’s new J.Crew store has taken gruff from everyone from TV on the Radio to Reggie Watts, but that isn’t stopping it from selling these new totes. Now you can carry a constant reminder of J.Crew’s presence in the hood, as if all the times it comes up in shellshocked conversation weren’t enough.
The map, created for J.Crew by Brooklyn-based Maptote, which previously collaborated with Urban Outfitters on some Williamsburg shirts, points out the store’s location amidst handlebar mustaches, ping-pong parlors, Frenchies, fixies, record stores, and all the other things that may or may not still exist in Billyburg five years from now. The map, which only acknowledges Williamsburg above South 3rd Street, nods to places like Mast Brothers, Rough Trade, Radegast, Nitehawk, Crif Dogs and Spritzenhaus — because what better than a corporate megalith to tell you where it’s at in Williamsburg?
To be fair, the store is doing its best to serve the enduring cliche of a Williamsburger: when we stopped in just now, it was selling Burroughs Beard Oil and J.Crew iPhone cases.
So, yeah, look for all the cool kids tramping around the neighborhood carrying their latest Whole Foods purchases in their J.Crew totes. They’re only $28, y’all — less than the price of two cocktails at a local “dive” bar.