Just a year and a half after settling in at 1 Broadway Avenue, high-end retailer Emporium DNA has closed up shop.
The store, which carries high-end brands such as Rebecca Minkoff, Rag & Bone and See by Chloe, closed June 12, according to University spokeswoman Karen Peart. The University did not comment further on the closure.
Emporium DNA opened in November 2014, replacing cafe Au Bon Pain, the business that occupied the same location for nearly two decades.
A sales associate declined to comment last month on the expected closure. IK Retail Group, the parent company for Emporium DNA, could not be reached for comment.
While some students have criticized the store for being unaffordable, Emporium DNA lowered its prices last fall to stay attuned to the needs of its surrounding area.
Four months ago, Director of University Properties Lauren Zucker said UP had brought Emporium DNA to Yale because the owner had “deep experience with retail.”
“And we loved this concept,” Zucker said to the News in February. “These are brands that would have been unable to come to New Haven on their own … Rebecca Minkoff isn’t going to open up a store on Broadway, but with Emporium, people still have access to her brand.”
The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History will open a special temporary exhibit, Peabody2, at the location this August to celebrate the museum’s 150th anniversary. Peabody2 will be free and open to the public through May 2017.
The space will be a collaboration between the Peabody and the Office of New Haven and State Affairs, according to Richard Kissel, director of public programs at the Peabody.
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