September 22, 2013

Michal Negrin store

Costume jeweler Michal Negrin is the latest Israeli to open shop in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City. Next door you’ll find Sabon, the Israeli soap and body-products seller; down the block is the Israeli-owned Café Bari; and a few blocks away one of Manhattan’s four Aroma Espresso Bars.

ISRAEL21c also just reported about the Israeli bakery boom in NYC including the likes of Max Brenner chocolate café, Ron Ben-Israel Cakes, Breads Bakery and Zucker Bakery.

An Israeli entrepreneur recently mapped blue-and-white high-tech companies in New York City. Now, someone needs to make a pin board of where to buy Made-in-Israel goods.

Although the BDS movement might be calling on the world to boycott Israeli wares, New Yorkers seem only too happy to welcome them.

Mainstream stores from all retail sell popular made-in-Israel goods including Sodastream seltzer makers, Ahava and other Dead Sea cosmetics, Tiny Love baby products, Caesarstone quartz countertops, and Israeli fashion.

Negrin took the bold step of opening her own storefront but she’s far from the only Israeli jeweler to sell to the New York City crowd. Department stores, boutiques and museums in the city also sell the likes of Ayala Bar, another popular Israeli costume jeweler, Hagar Satat, YVEL, and Agas & Tamar, among others.

Negrin’s New York City flagship shop – which opened August 12 – is her second standalone US retail space. Earlier this year, Negrin – who has 25 stores in Israel and 65 worldwide — opened shop in a mall in Paramus, New Jersey. A group of five investors backing the American expansion reportedly have plans to open 22 other Michal Negrin stores around the US, with shops in JFK airport and the World Trade Center mall next in line.

“Israeli designers have a lot to say in the US market and we’re hoping that this will be proof that it is a viable business,” attorney Oren Heiman, one of Negrin’s investors, told Haaretz. “We’re hoping that many Israeli fashion and jewelry designers will follow suit.”

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