Gramercy Shop Rises From The Ashes After Basement Blaze

GRAMERCY, NY — A Gramercy children's store has re-opened more than two weeks after a three-alarm fire ripped through the shop — forcing the family business to strip its shelves and start from scratch.

Ibiza Kids was among nine businesses on First Avenue near E. 19th Street that shuttered after an electrical fire sparked in a nearby Stuyvesant Town building and spread to their basements on Sept. 11. Most of the neighboring stores managed to reopen in a couple days, but when firefighters responded to the blaze in Ibiza Kids' basement they vented out the thick smoke into the shop.

The store's merchandise stunk of burnt plastic and was covered in black powder, said the shop's owner Carole Husiak.

"Every teether, every safety blanket, every shoe was covered in oily soot," said Husiak, a long-time Stuyvesant Town resident. "It was emotionally and mentally really hard to see. This has been our business forever and I wasn’t even sure if I could reclaim my business."

The 28-year-old store is an off-shoot of a women's clothing store simply named Ibiza that Husiak, her husband and one other business partner, opened together some four decades ago in the East Village — they have since shuttered the original to focus on the outpost. Ibiza Kids hopped around Lower Manhattan over the years, including Broadway near Union Square, but high rents forced them out.

The store landed in the Stuyvesant Town strip mall where it has resided for the last three years.

Ibiza Kids is solely a brick and motor operation and it has a minimal online footprint. One might say the store has survived and thrived because of that old school mentality. The First Avenue shop has grown into a sort of community center for parents and their children, hosting puppet shows, music classes, parent workshops and more.

"Not selling online may not be the smartest business move but it just goes against my philosophy," said Husiak, who'd prefer customers come chat with staff and have a physical experience than scroll through rows of merchandise online.

"It's also important to me to take it a step beyond normal retail and be a part of the community. I think [kids] need a place to be, maybe nibble on a snack and try something," she said.

Husiak often transforms the store into a donation center when catastrophe strikes, including for Syrian refugees and for children separated from their families at the border over the summer. Now that Ibezia Kids could use a helping hand, customers have stopped by to offer support, said one loyal shopper who swung by to see when the store aimed to re-open.

"I've been going here for years — we've had a lot of firsts here, first pair of shoes, first puzzle," said Gramercy resident Jennifer Peralta, who has a 2-year-old daughter, Annie, and a 3-year-old son, Jacob. "It's mom-and-pop businesses like these that make neighborhoods communities, I was really upset when I heard the news. I told them, 'As soon as you open I'm coming back.'"

As staff worked to re-open, locals dropped by with cakes and cookies, went on coffee runs for workers and came in with bags of sandwiches for lunch.

The support has helped the shop rise from the ashes of a near business-ending experience.

"The community has been great, I can't tell you how encouraging it has been," said Husiak. "We're going to come back stronger. It's a chance for us to try different things, order new types of items — it's a rebirth."

Ibiza Kids at 340 First Avenue is open on Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The store will have a grand opening celebration on Friday, Oct. 5.

Carole Husiak in Ibiza Kids (Photo courtesy of Caroline Spivack/Patch) Secondary image of Ibiza Kids recovery efforts and bags of merchandise that had to be thrown out. (Photos courtesy of Carole Husiak)