RDI NY's Seaport Tour

VMSD Editor-in-Chief Jennifer Acevedo attended the New York chapter of the Retail Design Institute’s (RDI) Seaport Walkabout 2016, held June 22. The tour led participants through the emerging retail scene in the lower Manhattan neighborhood that suffered significant flooding as a result of Hurricane Sandy.

Just four years after the storm, Seaport has clearly bounced back, and its inherent charms, like cobblestone streets, have lured many looking for the next hot address. Situated where Fulton Street ends at the East River, it’s home to many single-store innovators.

One stop was Café Patoro, a small Brazilian bakery owned by husband and wife team Eugene Oh and Ah La Ko. The café is a warm, welcoming space with rich, dark wood furniture brightened by colorful tile and product packaged in the café’s signature black and yellow colors.

Just down Front Street is Gilded Age, a modern-day tribute to denim in every color, shape and use you can imagine. Classic denim jeans hang casually on wooden racks on the wall, or find new life stretched out on canvases as pieces of art or assembled as a beautiful, rugged floor covering.

The tour concluded after stopping in at Pasanella & Son, vintners offering a curated selection of fine wines in a historic building that was badly flooded during Sandy, and Northern Grade, a retailer of American-made luxury goods that took residence in a bright, sunny space.