'Something Else' Is Expanding To Williamsburg

Smith Street staple is expanding its Brooklyn retail empire to another neighborhood—this time in hipster territory: Williamsburg.

“I am opening a store on North 6^th street between Bedford and Berry this April,” said owner and Sackett Street resident Doug Grater. “We are currently in the process of the buildout, and creating a new logo and a new look. I think Williamsburg is a neighborhood unto itself. So we want to cater that store to that market as an independent concept shop.

“All of our stores run independently of each other and are totally connected to the neighborhood we’re in,” added Grater. We want them to really cater to their market. So I wouldn’t want the Williamsburg customers to think that what they’re wearing is the same as the customer in Park Slope.”

Grater, a third-generation Brooklyn retailer, began working at his father’s Bensonhurst store while he was still in college. “The legend of that store is that in 1969 my father bought it from a man who had himself won it in a poker game,” said Grater, laughing. “It had a different name back then and, while trying to decide what to rename the new operation, a salesgirl suggested ‘Something Else.’ My father liked it and that was that.”

The Bensonhurst flagship, a 6,000-square-foot space is still in operation to this day, though Grater maintains that it too features a different inventory in order to meet the needs of a different clientele in that neighborhood.

“There, how can I put this, you’ve got a lot of little hot tamale Italian girls,” said Grater. “So we tend to stock more Juicy and G-Star. The clothing is a lot dressier and sexier.”

By contrast, he said, his downtown stores—referring to Carroll Gardens and Park Slope—offer more “urban, hippie chic” attire. Both the Smith Street location and the store on 5^th Avenue were opened within months of each other in 2005, when Grater was living on Bergen Street and exploring the neighborhoods on periodic bike rides to Prospect Park. On one ride, he saw saw a man taping up a ‘for rent’ sign advertising the 5^th Avenue space, took down the information and was signing a lease by the end of the night.

“At the time,” he said, “my girlfriend was an actress-model type, who didn’t really have a job. So I said, ‘Hey, want to work at this new store?’”

That relationship eventually ended, but Grater’s connection to Carroll Gardens only grew. “I love the community and the neighborhood feel,” Grater said. “Manhattan is so transient that nobody even recognizes you. So the plan is to always keep our stores in Brooklyn.”

He even offered some picks for the local shopper: “This season, we’re re-launching pieces from Free People, which is looking really nice,” he said. “And we like the way Alternative Apparel looks. They’ve definitely increased their fashion. We love Levi’s right now. The washes are spot on and the prices are great. The fashion right now is very cute and very price-conscious. Our niche right now has been having boutique style clothing at lower prices but with some high-end merchandise thrown in the mix as well.”

And with a collection of clothing stores, do the women in his life often request that he style them before walking out the door?

“Absolutely not!” replied Grater. “My girlfriends have never asked me for any fashion advice. But some of my buddies, my guy friends, they will say ‘Hey, how do I look?’” Now that's something else.