Retailer Comes In from the Cold

Kisan Inc. inks 3,500-square-foot lease for first U.S. store in SoHo

ICELANDIC RETAILER KISAN INC. will open its first U.S. store in SoHo. The company, which now has just one shop, in downtown Reykjavik, recently signed a 10-year lease for 3,500 square feet at 125 GREENE ST., between Prince and Houston streets. The store is slated to open in May.

Asking rent was about $210 a square foot for the 1,700-square-foot ground floor. The location includes a large mezzanine and a 600-square-foot basement; both will be used as additional selling space.

Owners Thorunn Anspach and Olivier Brémond plan to stock the emporium with children’s clothing, household goods, travel items and gifts that they collect from around the world.

“They’ll sell products from a lot of designers who don’t have stores here,” says MICHAEL GLANZBERG, a Sinvin Realty broker who worked with CHRISTOPHER OWLES to represent the property owners, Helene and Alan Luchnick. For example, the current Kisan store carries kids apparel by Flora and Henri and magnets from Three by Three Seattle.
Kisan’s owners searched SoHo for six months before taking the Greene Street spot, which was vacated by clothier Y & Kei earlier this month.

“They were very particular about the space,” says Gene Spiegelman, a Cushman & Wakefield Inc. broker who represented the tenant with colleague Alisa Amsterdam.