Farewell to Liberty House

| 27 Apr 2017 | 06:38

Cathy Hawkins, left, a co-owner of Liberty House on Broadway and 112th Street, and jewelry designer Tracy Levine. In one incarnation or another, the iconic store purveyed singular clothing lines, craft jewelry and other unique items for decades. It closed this week. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva

Liberty House, an iconic store whose last location was on Broadway and 112th Street, sold handcrafted items for decades, including hats by Julia Lisogorsky. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva

Martha Fabisoff, a co-owner of Liberty House, during the store's last week in business. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva

A decorative trunk from Pakistan was among the unique items for sale at Liberty House, the iconic Upper West Side boutique that closed this week after a decades-long existence in the city. Photo: Maria Boyadjieva

An iconic Upper West Side boutique with roots in the 1960s closes its doors

By Genia Gould

Tears and nostalgia set the emotional temperature at a recent weekend close-out sale for Liberty House, a unique clothing and ethnic arts boutique that has served the Upper West Side since the late 70s, with the latest store, located on Broadway and 112th Street, since 1998.

Longtime clientele and contributing artists commiserated, shopped and let the vibe of imported and domestic handicrafts, jewelry, clothing and furniture, sink in, for memory’s sake.

The closing marks the end of an era for the Upper West Side.

“The stores evolved out of the ethos of the civil rights movement,” says Cathy Hawkins, one of the owners of the shop, whose relationship with the one-time cooperative store started when she volunteered in 1969 at the original Liberty House in NYC, on Bleecker Street, opened in 1966. Hawkins would eventually buy the store with a partner, at which time Liberty House stopped being a non-profit, she explains. But Hawkins kept the spirit of the store intact, including buying merchandise fair trade. The boutique later moved to Broadway and 84th Street in the 80s, which Hawkins co-owned, and then it moved again to 87th Street, where she became the sole owner.

The 87th Street location co-existed with the 112th Street store until 2004. It is the closing of the 112th Street store that puts a final lid on the Liberty House lineage in New York.

Liberty House was originally an offshoot of a cooperative in Mississippi, which gave African-American women artisans the opportunity to share ownership in a store where they sold their goods. The concept was taken to other cities to promote similar ideas, though some of the stores were not cooperatives but businesses owned by one or two people.

These were times when artisans were working independently and collectively, women were opening small businesses, and people’s interest in African and ethnic cultures, including textiles and crafts, flourished and was evident in fashions of the day.

Surprisingly, the reason for Liberty House’s closing wasn’t because they were losing their lease, Hawkins explains: their landlord, Columbia University, had been good to them, and “offered to work with us. It’s about the business itself.” The highly curated shop, which carried handmade and small clothing lines, couldn’t compete with Amazon and other online businesses.

While their original clientele loyally followed them through the years, Hawkins says, they didn’t manage to cultivate a younger generation of brick-and-mortar customers.

On a recent weekend, a trunk show was in progress, featuring two longtime Liberty House artists, which allowed the store to remain vibrant, says one of the artists, Suzanne Punch, who paints on silk.

“A good conversation took precedence over anything else,” says Punch. “We all share so much about the store. I want the store to go out like a lady, really good to the very last moment.”

On April 27, Liberty House will close its doors forever with a party open to the public. “Please join us on April 27th. Stop by and wear your oldest or favorite Liberty House outfit and say hello,” reads a sign on the door.