Home furnishings and accessories retailer, Crate & Barrel (Northbrook, Ill.), will shutter its Manhattan flagship this August after more than 20 years at the Madison Avenue address, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company’s lease on the four-story, 62,000-square-foot space was set to expire in 2019.
A company source told the WSJ that it sought to exit the property ahead of rapidly rising rents in the neighborhood. According to the news outlet, average rents rose to $1584 per square foot in the first quarter of 2015, an increase of 8 percent over the previous year. In recent years, the neighborhood has become increasingly populated by luxury retailers. Crate & Barrel, which operates a second Manhattan location in the SoHo neighborhood, does not have plans to relocate the store. Most of the store’s 100 employees will be laid off.