Acne on Horatio

Last year, the little stationery store at 8th and Horatio that used to be Typewriters & Things, along with the newsstand next door, was forced to close due to a steep rent hike.

Something new has opened in their place. And guess what--it's a global luxury chain.



Acne Studios, with locations around the world, has moved into the spaces and then some.

I see their ads all over the place and, every time, I think to myself: Why in God's name would you name your luxury lifestyle brand after a painful and disfiguring skin disorder? The answer is on Wikipedia: "The name ACNE stands for Ambition to Create Novel Expressions."

Anyway, it's sleek and expensive and enormous. And it's not a newsstand or a stationery shop or anything else a person might actually need. So it fits right in with the new Greenwich Village.