Williams-Sonoma To Close Upper East Side Store

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — On the heels of what is normally a busy holiday season, Williams-Sonoma revealed that it plans to close its Upper East Side kitchenware store as the pandemic continues to devastate the city's retail businesses.

Andrew Fine, a neighbor and vice president of the East 86th Street Association, snapped photos on Sunday and Monday at the Madison Avenue shop, showing signs announcing a "Store Closing Sale Event" offering 20 percent off all items.

Fine said an employee told him that the closure stemmed from a dispute with the building's landlord, who "wanted them out."

The store was not answering its phones Monday afternoon, and the company's corporate office did not respond to questions about when the store would close.

Damn! @WilliamsSonoma leaving @East86th as the retail apocalypse wears on. Employee says landlord wouldn't budge on rent. pic.twitter.com/rcMljsfnce
— Andrew Fine (@AFineBlogger) December 28, 2020

Closing the Madison Avenue location would leave just two Williams-Sonoma stores in New York City: one inside the Shops at Columbus Circle and another on 7th Avenue in Chelsea. A Midtown location on East 59th Street closed in 2015.

Fine said losing Williams-Sonoma, a neighborhood mainstay for years, would exacerbate an already-dire retail climate on the Upper East Side, and along the East 86th Street business corridor.

Banana Republic and Urban Outfitters both announced in the past two weeks that their stores on Third Avenue near 86th Street would close imminently, Fine said. L'Occitane, between Third and Lexington, is also planning to close.

"The pandemic is accelerating this retail apocalypse of sorts," he said.

A study released in July found that the coronavirus could kill up to a third of the city's small businesses. Meanwhile, national chain stores like Williams-Sonoma have also been hard-hit — this month, a report found that more than 1,000 chain retailers have closed across the city this year, including 42 on the Upper East Side.