ByVictoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
The shops on Chambers Street will have a bit more exposure, thanks to the Borough Council approving a new sandwich board-style sign on the corner of Nassau and Chambers Streets.
”I oftentimes hear customers say ‘I never knew you existed’ because they don’t think to come down Chambers Street,” said Joy Chen, owner of Joy Cards. “They are told by someone about our shop and they end up saying what a cute street.”
Looking east along Nassau Street from the stores, businesses say there is a huge void and disconnect between the heart of the downtown stores and the Nassau Place shops.
”The (main Nassau Street) business district ends and there is a big church, so a lot of people think the business district ended and they look at the church and automatically turn around,” said Kelly Jung, manager of Morning Glory, a gift shop, and Niko Niko, a clothing boutique, both on Nassau Street. “On Chambers Street not many people know about the shops.”
Having a temporary sandwich sign on the corner did increase foot traffic for Tomorrow’s Heirloom’s when management put it up as an experiment.
”It wasn’t a significant amount of increase in sales, it was the foot traffic,” said John Miller, owner of Tomorrow’s Heirlooms, a custom jewelry shop down Chambers Street. He used to stand outside his store during the afternoon, and “I’d watch people look across and down Chambers and turn around and go down Nassau. Once they put the sign out, people actually came in.”
Mr. Miller keeps track of how many customers come into his shop, which has been on Chambers Street for the past eight years and saw an average increase of 25 percent on weekdays and 40 percent on weekends when the old sign was out.
”It was a dramatic difference,” he said. “We’re down Chambers, so to get them to come down Chambers, that sign really works.”
After the borough disallowed the old sign, the foot traffic immediately dropped off. “I think it will be helpful and the increased foot traffic will translate into increased sales.”
Fifteen businesses on the two streets will be listed on the sign.
”It attracts traffic to Nassau Place,” said Noelani Musicaro, director of marketing and tenant affairs for Chambers Properties, the property managers for Nassau Place. “It would be the same design as the sign on the building the pretty green and gold sign and it would let people know what shops are here. When people look down the block past the church, they might not realize we are here.”
The sign would be green with gold lettering and be 2 feet wide by 3 feet high, and it would be brought in every night.
Property owners needed the blessing of the Borough Council because the sign will be on the sidewalk in the borough’s right of way.

