Manhattan’s loss will be Brooklyn’s briny gain, an iconic pickle pusher predicted this week.
“They will love us,” said Pat Fairhurst, owner of Guss’ Pickles, a legendary Lower East Side institution. “We’ve been around a long time and our pickles are good.”
Fairhurst pointed to changing demographics and high rents as reasons the shop will move to 39th Street between 14th and 15th Avenues in Borough Park.
“I’m originally from Borough Park, so it’s old news to me,” she said.
In Brooklyn, the store will have a new twist — it will have a different name.
A 2007 settlement between Fairhurst and Steve and Andrew Leibowitz allowed her to use the name only at the Orchard Street location.Fairhurst and the Leibowitzes both claim lineage with pickle god Isidor Guss, the Polish immigrant who had a pushcart on the Lower East Side and eventually opened the shop, which rocketed to fame after being featured in the 1988 film “Crossing Delancey.”
Fairhurst would not yet reveal the name of the new shop, which will be more spacious, allowing the barrels to be kept indoors. She said she has signed a lease at the new location, and will move from Manhattan in the next few months.
— Gary Buiso
