Astoria Furniture Store Adds Co-Working Space To Stay In Business

ASTORIA, QUEENS — Several weeks ago, Queens native Dalia Katan got a call from her uncle, who owns a furniture shop on Steinway Street in Astoria.

"I had never gotten a call like this from my uncle," Katan said. "He called me up saying he had to close the store."

Michael Davidov's store, Urban Furniture, was struggling to stay afloat as fewer and fewer people turn to Steinway Street as a shopping destination. One by one, large retailers have been closing their locations along the shopping corridor.

Davidov already had two furniture stores in Manhattan when he took over the shop at 28-23 Steinway St. in 2012, he said. Now his Steinway store is the only one left.

So, he turned to his niece for advice. Katan works in San Francisco helping Fortune-500 companies grow their businesses. Maybe, Davidov thought, she could do the same for his business.

Katan researched hybrid businesses across the city and suggested her uncle transform Urban Furniture into a co-working space. The store already had comfortable chairs and couches, tables and WiFi. All Davidov needed was coffee and tea.

Urban Furniture relaunched as a co-working space on Tuesday. Katan estimates 15 to 20 people stopped by throughout opening day.

"It's a chance to get people to live in the furniture that they would potentially be buying," Katan said. "Every single person that passed by, they stopped or turned their heads to see what was going on inside."

Katan is focused now on spreading the word. She started an Instagram page for the store and is brainstorming more marketing strategies.

"We'll try to survive and, if not, I don't know," Davidov said. "Try to do something else."

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Happy Friday! Can you think of anything better than hot coffee, PJs, and a comfy couch on a rainy day? We can: all of the above, but at a furniture store!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We hope you'll consider working from here today! Stop by to support our small business as we try to innovate to turn around our brick and mortar shop. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #smallbusiness #shopsmall #localentrepreneurs #immigrantbusiness #smallbusinessowner #innovate #brickandmortar #coworkingspace #coworking #coffeeshop #nycbusiness #supportsmallbusiness #coffee #tea #getshitdone #brickandmortar #furniture #furniturestore #midcenturymodern #modernfurniture #modern #astoria #astoriaqueens #queensny #nyclocal #shopnyc #nyccoffee #nycsmallbusiness
A post shared by Urban Furniture & Coworking (@urbanfurniturenyc) on May 30, 2019 at 7:40am PDT