[Throwback Thursday]: Scaredy Cat

I may never get over the loss of my favorite neighborhood retailer, Scaredy Kat, which closed its President Street and Fifth Avenue location about a year ago, when the owners decided to move [back?] to North Carolina. Or maybe it was South Carolina. Whatever; they’re gone, and now I’m forced to buy sub-par stationery and tchotchkes at [gag] “Possibilities on the Slope” (or “Toys" or whatever the fuck that store calls itself now). That place depresses and/or angers me every single time I enter it.

For fourteen years, in its three different locations (all within a 90 second walk from my house), Scaredy was my reliable supplier of party invitations, gifts, and loot bag fillers that were quirky, uncommon, a little kitschy or ironic, charming, and just generally-speaking not-generic-mass-produced crap. Most essentially, Scaredy offered a large and irresistible array of letter-press greeting cards: I would estimate that 92-95% of the birthday, anniversary, and Valentine’s Day cards that my husband and I exchanged for close to 15 years, came from Scaredy. And each one was as delightful as the next. Our shared, unspoken agreement: as long as the card comes from Scaredy, you know I’ll like it.

Run by a mild-mannered hipster couple, the store had a cohesive feel and look, which is not at all to say that all its merchandise was the same, but that it all made sense together, all seemed part of a whole, making the experience of shopping or just browsing in there pleasant and even calming. And there was something so quintessentially Brooklyn about it, but not in the forced, highly-branded way we’ve come to identify places or products as “Brooklyn.”

Honestly, I should be grateful for small favors. The establishment that moved into Scaredy’s location, Annie’s General Store, is not a phone shack or one more indistinguishable nail salon or yet another outpost of Glow Accessories. But it lacks the personal touch of Scaredy Kat. Nora and/or Damond (see! How personal! I knew them by name!) were in the store at least 75% of the time. I mean, who’s Annie? Is she a real person? The owner?  Or is it akin to McDonald’s – trying to sound all folksy, when the actual franchise’s owner was named Kroc, and he wasn’t the Clown!

While Annie’s has many nice items for sale, it’s a little more high-end, a little less accessible and friendly, and their greeting cards all seem to cost six fucking dollars. You know, a little too New Brooklyn.