It was three years ago that Terri Gillis shut down her trailblazing Lower East Side clothing boutique in the face of rising retail rents. So it was nice to see her back in the neighborhood this past weekend. For the next several Saturdays, she’ll be maintaining a stall at the Hester Street Fair.
TG-170 was one of the first boutiques of its kind to open on Ludlow Street in the early 1990s. The store featured up-and-coming local designers and definitely embodied the DIY culture that dominated the block at the time. After fleeing Ludlow, Gillis opened a short-lived store at the corner of Ludlow and Broome streets.
These days, she’s living in Bushwick and making the rounds at the street fairs. She’ll be back at Hester Street every Saturday for the next several weeks. We asked whether Gillis would consider another retail shop, but she said it’s out of the question given the economic realities in New York today.
