Coming to a bar near you - High-Price Shopping?

J. Crew is the latest in a recent trend in New York (and a much older trend of London) of high end stores moving into spaces that used to be drinking establishments. Now, I'm not sure J. Crew would normally classify as high end, but the new venture moving into a former TriBeCa lounge is not your normal J. Crew. They're selling $3,000 jackets. (If I'm going to drop three grand on a single item of clothing, you'll find me at Tom Ford, thanks).

Personally, I kind of like the idea. Many of New York's bars are OLD and have a lot of character. It also maintains the historical integrity of neighborhoods like SoHo and Greenwich Village that have been fighting against a recent spate of new development applications (some of which are pretty heinous). Plus, who doesn't like a bar?!

Interestingly enough, the President of J. Crew has his office phone and email printed in every catalog. If you call and leave a message, he generally returns calls (that aren't pranks) within a day. No lie.