Park Slope's BEVA Boutique To Close 7th Ave Store And Move Online

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A local clothing and toy store on Seventh Avenue will close its doors at the end of the month, but it won't be the end for the family-owned business.

BEVA Boutique owner Eva Borak said that July 31 will be the shop's last day at its Seventh Avenue storefront, found between 9th and 10th streets.

The business has been open in the Park Slope neighborhood for six years, but Borak said rising rent prices led her to decide, like many nearby business owners, not to renew the lease. Borak and her son will start an online business instead, she said.

"The rents are too high and there's very slow traffic" she said. "This whole area going (9th Street) and up is slowing down badly."

BEVA is the latest of some longtime Seventh Avenue businesses that have felt the slow-down this year.

The Old Carriage Inn, a longtime staple on the avenue, closed its doors for good on St. Patrick's Day after 35 years in the neighborhood. The family-owned bar, which first opened in 1975, had sold its building and couldn't afford to stay and rent the space, owner Dorothy Waggelman said.

Another popular Seventh Avenue spot, The Clay Pot, announced just a week before The Old Carriage Inn that it would be closing its Brooklyn space after 50 years. The jewelry store is focusing on its Manhattan location, instead, owners said.

The empty storefronts also aren't unique to Seventh Avenue.

Also over the last year, popular watering hole Kings Beer Hall shut its doors on St. Marks Place, The Pacific Bar announced that it would close down after 12 years on Fourth Avenue and, last spring, a grocer that had been in the area for nearly five decades shutdown.

Borak said that closing the storefront is sad, but that she is excited about the new online brand, which she will start with her son, Nick.

The new brand, Brooklynite Designs, will feature items related to the borough, including articles, information about Brooklyn history and a clothing line designed by Borak, including t-shirts and onesies.

"He's doing the website, I'm doing the designs," Borak said. "We are very happy to have this whole (website) about Brooklyn."

The website will be found at brooklynitedesigns.com and will launch in August or September after the storefront closes, she said.

Until then, BEVA will offer up to 50 percent off on its in-store items until the boutique closes on July 31.

"(To our customers) thank you very much for supporting us and coming here," Borak said. "We'll see you around — or see you online."