Home Furnishings Mecca ABC Carpet & Home Launches Industry City Store

The richly layered vignettes of New York design emporium ABC Carpet & Home have come to Brooklyn with the September opening of a new store in Industry City.

Walk into the shop at 3906 2nd Avenue in Sunset Park and the ambience is somewhat reminiscent of the Manhattan flagship, with lush tablescapes, handcrafted decor from around the globe and layers of brilliant textiles — although the Brooklyn waterfront location and the large windows of the former warehouse space make for a brighter, more industrial atmosphere than the rich moodiness of the Manhattan store.

At just under 80,000 square feet, the new store can’t contain the packed visual extravaganza of the flagship, but it does offer a mix of decor, lighting and furniture — including a small section of children’s furnishings and accessories. While Brooklyn designers aren’t a focus, we spotted a few local makers, including bedding from Eskayel, decorative items from Great Lakes Goods and candles from Species by the Thousands.

ABC hasn’t had a presence in the borough since their short-lived Dumbo warehouse closed in 2005. This year ABC also closed warehouses in New Jersey and the Bronx.

But the new Industry City store is not, strictly speaking, a warehouse store. It’s more of a blend of both, with lush settings up front and markdowns toward the rear of the space.

The discounted offerings include furniture, lighting fixtures and, of course, rugs. A substantial portion of the back of the store is devoted to the heavy stacks of rugs familiar to anyone who has sought a floor-covering bargain at ABC.

The continued focus on rugs ties back to the early origins of the company: In 1897, founder Sam Weinrib first sold rugs from a cart on the streets of the Lower East Side. The business grew enough to allow for a storefront, and by the 1960s the family opened a large store on Broadway at 19th Street in Manhattan, where it is still located. In the early 1980s, ABC expanded its focus from the floor to design as a whole, becoming the home-furnishings mecca now familiar to New Yorkers.

ABC Carpet & Home isn’t the only major home furnishings retailer to make a home in Industry City. A Design Within Reach outlet debuted in 2015 and a Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams factory outlet store is set to open this fall. Just next door at Liberty View Industrial Plaza are Bed, Bath Beyond and Cost Plus World Market.

[Photos by Susan De Vries]

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