Venerable punk outfitters Trash & Vaudeville closed the doors to its St. Marks Place shop on Sunday after four decades of slinging platform boots and bullet belts to the masses. It isn't the end for the store, which is moving to 96 East 7th Street between First Avenue and Avenue A, but the move, to some, signals the end of St. Marks. Overnight, "Gentrification in Progress" tape appeared on the storefront, as well as on the nearby Stage Restaurant and former St. Marks bookshop, which are both closing up shop, EVG reports.
Trash & Vaudeville cites rising rental costs and a change of the business environment on the block as the reason for its move. The building the store called home, surprisingly historic and the one-time home of Alexander Hamilton's son, was put on the market for $11.9 million in November. According to brokerage site Eastern Consolidated, the building is now in contract.
The guerrilla public art is the work of GILF, who has also taped up the former Germania Bank building on Bowery and Spring ahead of its transformation into high-end retail and office space.
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