Retail has officially returned to the downtown building which once housed the famous Frear’s Troy Cash Bazaar, following a ribbon cutting in front of the grand Victorian edifice on Wednesday afternoon. E ko logic, a store making and selling cashmere clothing and accesssories, is the first of three stores that will be opening over the next two weeks inside the Frear Building. This Friday, Trojan Horse Antiques will be opening next door at the corner of Fulton and Third streets, and in about two weeks, Modern on the Hudson, a store specializing in authentic mid-century modern furniture, will be opening its doors as well.When Judy Engel and Frank Daley, co-owners of owners of Modern on the Hudson, were first presented with the possibility of again opening a retail space in Troy, they were “back and forth,” on the concept, said Engel. Once they saw the space, however, they were sold. It’s a beautiful building,” said Engel, standing in the airy storefront, looking out the large windows along Fulton Street. Engel and Daley have been selling mid-century modern furniture for 20 years, and once had a storefront in Saratoga Springs and then on River Street, but that closed more than a decade ago. Their operation has since been an online wholesale business. They have been using a warehouse in Rensselaer, but that space has not been ideal for displaying their furniture when customers, primarily based in New York City, are interested in viewing their wares personally. “We’ve been trying to get a place where we can present better,” said Daley. “This will allow us to display better than the old warehouse.” Their new storefront is next door to Trojan Horse, an antiques store operated by Astri Bryce that had been located on River Street inside the Market Block Building. “It’s complementary, it’s not competition,” said Astri Bryce, of the two businesses locating into the Frear Building. Currently, there are no other stores with a focus on cashmere clothing in the city, nor is their a store that sells exclusively mid-century modern furniture. Troy native David Bryce, husband of Trojan Horse proprietor Astri Bryce, purchased the Frear Building and the adjacent Troy Atrium in 1999. The developer soon brought almost 200 employees of the state Department of Health to the complex, who occupied the building until they packed up their offices this past August. Since then, David and Astri have been seeking retailers to fill the space. “The building wants to have people in it,” said Bryce. “It’s a magnificent space.” Once the headquarters of the Frear’s department store, the interior of the building features an open central space lit by an expansive skylight. Beginning on the second floor, an ornate wrought iron staircase rises three stories. CornerStone, a communications company, already occupies the third floor, and an East Greenbush-based architecture firm is planning to occupy the fourth floor, but there is still 16,000 square-feet of vacant space on the upper floors, for which the developer is still seeking tenants. E ko logic will be open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. this Friday for Troy Night Out. Regular store hours, to begin Tuesday, Oct. 29, will be Tuesdays and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will be closed Sunday and Monday.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 11:50:55 +0000
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