Furniture retailer Raymour & Flanigan will open a store in the Fulton Mall — continuing the suburban mall-ification of the busy shopping corridor.
The seller of sofas and side tables, which operates stores throughout the Northeast, will set up shop alongside a newly opened Express and a Planet fitness outpost on the second floor of 490 Fulton St. in February.
Scott Milnamow, senior vice president of real estate for the upstate–based Raymour & Flanigan, said the furniture retailer has long eyed the Downtown shopping strip.
“We have been looking in the Downtown Brooklyn market for the right location for a couple of years with Fulton Mall as an area high on our list,” said Milnamow, whose company operates two other Brooklyn stores, one in Coney Island and one Marine Park.
“The pedestrian traffic and surrounding neighborhoods makes the market a great fit,” he said.
In recent years, the Fulton Mall has undergone a rapid transformation from a street of sneaker shops and wig stores to a corridor lined with national brands such as Aeropostale, the Gap, and Starbucks. Swedish fashion chain H&M and discount department store Century 21 are both planning to open on the Fulton Mall in the coming months.
Meanwhile, local chains including Shake Shack and Brooklyn Industries have set up shop on the west end of the street.
Neighborhood boosters say the residents of the new high-rises that sprouted in Downtown over the past few years have helped spark the street’s transition away from small retailers and toward national chains.
“More and more people are calling Downtown Brooklyn home,” said Tucker Reed, president of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. “This continued transition into a 24/7 neighborhood is a driving force behind this vast diversification of retail that we are seeing today.”
