Mike Albo Goes Shopping:It's Preppy Time
Today, Critical Shopper Mike Albo finds himself at Tribeca's new J.Crew men's store in today's Thursday Styles. Like most New Yorkers of a particular generation, Albo remembers the site as the Liquor Store Bar, and like most of us, takes the transformation of a warmly remembered gathering place into yet another retail outlet with little more than a shrug.
What are you gonna do at this point?
Albo points out a few of the pitfalls of the current preppy revival which, while unavoidable, can still cause our bohemian shopper to bristle,
One must tread lightly, especially if one can recall the era of "The Official Preppy Handbook", a spoof that turned into a shopping guide.
We have two small points. One is that Albo referred to J.Crew as one of the Original Prep suppliers, which is not entirely accurate. Those would be L.L. Bean, Talbots and Brooks Brothers. J.Crew began much later at the height of the Great Preppy Craze in 1983 as a mail order catalog, and capitalized on the hunger for the style, offering an updated version that carried it through when the craze ended. We're pretty sure it's not even mentioned in the Handbook. Its first retail store didn't open until 1989.
The other point refers to the store itself. Lately, J.Crew has had something of a renaissance, tweaking its classics just enough to make them fresh and appealing, but the new store highlights on a more expensive, exclusive version of the brand. One of the things we like best about J.Crew is that it is still a relatively affordable brand offering great value, until you get to Tribeca, that is. If we are going to spent that kind of money, well then that opens up the choices dramatically. At that point, we don't really need J.Crew anymore.
Critical Shopper: J. Crew - A Package Store for Preppies by Mike Albo (NYTimes)
J.Crew Tribeca Mens Shop 235 West Broadway NY at White Street, Tribeca








