Edith’s owner reveals store will close soon

Lingerie mainstay’s demise is one of several retail shifts taking place downtown.

By: Jennifer Potash
   Edith’s Lingerie will soon pull the dressing room curtains closed for a final time.
   The lingerie business, a mainstay of Nassau Street for nearly 50 years, will shut down by the end of the month, said owner Anne Zuckerman.
   The closing is part of continuing changes in the retail picture downtown. Most recently, Palmer Square announced some new stores will be appearing sometime this year.
   Ms. Zuckerman said she wants to pursue other opportunities outside of the retail business.
   "It’s been more and more difficult to do a small business," she said. "I think I do need a change."
   She said Edith’s was closing as a result of increased competition from other lingerie stores downtown — two of which opened last year.
   While Ms. Zuckerman said she has a "wonderful" landlord and rental rate, overall rents for retail space in the central business district have hit astronomically high levels.
   She thanked all Edith’s customers for continuing to support the store.
   Edith’s was founded in 1956 by Edith Zuckerman, Anne Zuckerman’s mother, who sold hand-made lingerie.
   Originally at 10 Chambers St., Edith’s moved next door to 12 Chambers St. and then to 30 Nassau St. The business moved to 170 Nassau Street in 1996 and in 2001, Ms. Zuckerman moved the business to a second-floor space at 345 Nassau St. with an emphasis on Internet sales through an Edith’s Web site. The Web site will close, too, Ms. Zuckerman said.
   Edith’s was also the first lingerie business in the area to sell bras and other accessories for women with mastectomies. Ms. Zuckerman said that segment of her business was very successful.
   The loss of that specialty will be missed by breast cancer survivors, said Nancy Healey, director of the Breast Cancer Resource Center at the YWCA Princeton.
   "It’s very sad and Edith’s will be missed," she said. "Anne Zuckerman had a great ability to help breast cancer patients in such a kind and compassionate way."
   The only other store that does the special fittings is Sylene’s at the Lawrence Shopping Center, Ms. Healey said.
   In Palmer Square, La Plume et Papier, purveyor of high-quality writing paper, journals and other stationery located at 41 Palmer Square, went out of business at the end of 2002, said David Newton, vice president of Palmer Square Management LLC.
   Mr. Newton said he expects to bring another stationery store to Palmer Square, but not necessarily at the La Plume location, which may become home to a children’s shoe store.
   A retailer has signed a letter of intent for the former Gap Kids locale on Hulfish Street, vacant since late 2001, Mr. Newton said. He said he could not disclose the name of the business.
   By the end of the month, blue mercury, an upscale cosmetics boutique that shuns capital letters, should open at the corner of Palmer Square West and Hulfish Street, site of the former Simon Pearce Glass, according to Mr. Newton.
   Overall, Palmer Square is faring well in the sluggish economy, Mr. Newton said.
   "Palmer Square’s year-end results were less than 1 percent down from the last year and given the national trends I look at that as a very, very strong result," he said.