ALBANY — While there have been recent changes at Stuyvesant Plaza, one of the upscale strip mall’s stalwart retailers will be around for a while.
Pearl Grant Richmans, the plaza’s oldest operating store, recently signed a new lease modification with plaza owners WS Development, extending its presence there for several years.
Questions had been swirling as Stuyvesant Plaza recently announced it was leasing space to the Warby Parker eyeglass chain, which would compete with an existing local retailer, DiNapoli Opticians.
And last month, plaza executives said a Sur La Table cookware and kitchen-goods store was going in where a similar local store, Different Drummer’s Kitchen had been until it lost its lease.
Despite what appears to be a push for national brands, the local Pearl Grant Richmans is remaining, owner Barry Richman said.
“We’re definitely an anchor store,” Richman said.
The store offers an eclectic mix of upscale gifts, cards, jewelry and chocolates. It is something of a retail landmark in the plaza and the area.
Originally named Richmans Card & Gifts, the store opened in 1959 by founders Jerome and Rose Richman. In 1965, they purchased another Stuyvesant Plaza store, Pearl Grant Gifts & Home Furnishings, and combined the two.
Pearl Grant Richmans is now a 10,000-square-foot, multi-department shop with products not readily found elsewhere.
It also sells stationery; babies’, women’s and men’s clothing and accessories; vintage objects; and a gallery of American-made gifts.
Richman said he specializes in “Made in America” products throughout the entire store.
Speculation about the mall’s direction increased earlier this year when Different Drummer’s Kitchen, another landmark store, lost its lease, only to be supplanted by Sur La Table, which is a national…
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