DII Seeks New Park Slope Location, Closing In January

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — DII has been in Park Slope for over 20 years, and with the impending loss of their current location, the owner of the popular discount store says they are hunting for a new location in the neighborhood.

"We've been looking for more than a year in Park Slope," Morris Dweck, DII's owner told Patch, "but we have not found a single location that is large enough."

Their last day, Dweck said, is January 22nd.

"We are sorry to leave — we would love to stay," he said.

DII — which stands for Deals and Discounts — has been in the neighborhood for over 35 years, Dweck said.

Back when the store was still known as Dee & Dee, the shop was further down Fifth Avenue at 14th street.

In 2008, the company rebranded as DII and also moved to the current location at 445 Fifth Ave.

And last March, Patch reported that a new 74-foot-tall residential tower had filed permits for the site, signaling a demolition of the building that houses DII and a New York Sports Club.

"The owner — they're good people, but they're doing what they have to do for business," Dweck said of the demolition.

"They did invite us to return in three years when the building would be done," he said of the owners, but Dweck said he declined since the space is less than half the size of what they currently have.

"It's hard for us to operate successfully in a smaller space," Dweck said, "there are certain fixed costs that come with operating a retail business...but the sales are much lower when you have a smaller location."

Unfortunately for the discount shoppers of Park Slope, it's been hard to find a large enough space in the neighborhood for a future DII store, Dweck said.

He said that while there are plenty of smaller stores under 3,000 square feet on the market, he has seen "nothing in that 10-20,000 square foot area. Not one."

"It's not about price just — they don't exist," he said.

At that size, Dweck will have to wait for a CVS or Walgreens to close and try to move in, if it's in the right location.

DII has 18 stores in New York City, Long Island and New Jersey. For Park Slope residents, the next closest store is about three miles south on Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge.

Dweck, while expressing humility that the store wasn't perfect, said he still hopes that DII will be able to reopen a Park Slope location in the future.

"We served the residents of Park Slope for more than 35 years at this point," he told Patch, "we developed good relationships."

"That's something that takes years to develop, and it's not something that anyone just want to discard," Dweck said, "there's value there. We feel bad that we're leaving we know the customers depend on us. And hopefully one day will will return."