Zarin Fabrics Celebrates 80 Years on the LES, So Keep a Lookout for the Branded Double-Decker Bus in its Honor
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Zarin Fabrics is now celebrating its 80th year here on the Lower East Side. Quite an accomplishment. The third-generation, family-owned operation joins a class of recent anniversaries from legacy businesses, such as Russ & Daughters and Katz’s Deli.
As such, the PR machine is spinning to let people know of this most recent milestone. The effort included a formal proclamation from Mayor Bill de Blasio, a recent “gala” event at the “three-floor fabric wonderland,” and the unveiling of a double-decker City Sightseeing bus wrapped in an advertisement announcing the anniversary. (There is a bus stop right outside its Allen Street entrance.)
From the mailbag:
Zarin Fabrics is famous for being a leader in the home design, fabric, and drapery industry: even deciding to keep the three-floor fabric wonderland on the Lower East Side when all competitors fled to Midtown. The patience and perseverance paid off, now the venue is a New York City treasure and a beacon of good business.
Zarin Fabrics was born during a time when the decorating industry called the Lower East Side home, through the years the establishment has served as a go-to for all home furnishing and design needs, adapting to the needs of the time. Additionally, Zarin Fabrics has served a robust industry that also calls New York home, proving to be a fundamental staple in the film, television and theater industry. Set designers and decorators look to Zarin’s as a paramount part of their creative process and have used their items for shows such as “Girls,” “Younger,” “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “Power,” “Madame Secretary,” “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girl,” “Sex and the City” and “Law & Order.”
“It all started back in the 1930s, my grandfather was actually working for someone who sold fabric so that’s what led him to the fabric business,” third-generation owner David Zarin told Downtown Magazine last year. “Then in 1936, he went off on his own and he rented a little store and he started selling fabric and making curtains. And in course of the next few decades, the business grew.”
During his father’s reign, Zarin Fabrics incorporated drapery, hardware, and upholstery supplies. The business later expanded to four separate locations in Lower Manhattan, including a shop on Eldridge Street and the current warehouse at the corner of Grand Street and Allen.
Somehow, though, for such an historic local company, Zarin does not own its headquarters at 314-320 Grand Street (aka 69 Orchard). That would be the Malachite Group, which shelled out $25.6 million for the high-profile corner in February 2015. As a result, Zarin reorganized its showroom and relocated around the corner (same building). There are also two banks sitting side-by-side at this address (Bank of America and TD Bank).
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Photo: Zarin Fabrics
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