Peter Elliot closing its Madison Avenue store

NEW YORK—Eliot Rabin is closing his Madison Avenue Peter Elliot men’s store after more than 20 years at that location. The reason is a substantial rent increase, from $20,000 to $30,000 a month, Rabin said. “We can’t do that—not for 840 square feet. We’re not a trophy store. We have to make money, and we did up until last year,” he added.

Peter Elliot is running a “lost our lease” sale with Natelsons and will officially close its doors on October 31.

Rabin has operated his Peter Elliot store in Manhattan’s Upper East Side for about 35 years. He currently has three other stores in the neighborhood, including a women’s store across the street on Madison and two one Lexington Avenue: the blue blazer-focused Peter Elliot Blue at 72nd Street and Peter Elliot Boots at 81st.

“We’re doing well. The Blue store, which we just remodeled, is up and the women’s store is up 200 percent.”

“Change is good and we’re playing with a lot of possibilities,” He said. Rabin is looking at retail space in other neighborhoods, including the West Village. “Other people want me to move to Wall Street but the customers who work down there live up here and they don’t shop during the day, they make money during the day,” he quipped.

Rabin is also hard at work on his Peter Elliot America wholesale collection, which he hopes will be ready for next season’s trade shows. “All the samples should be ready in the next two weeks and it’s being made in New York, New Jersey, Brooklyn, South Carolina, New Orleans and California—all made here.”