Longtime Park Slope Toy Store Closes: 'It Was Just Time,' Owner Says

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A longtime Park Slope toy store and kids' hair salon is cutting out its brick-and-mortar business.

LuLu Cuts & Toys on Fifth Avenue closed this week in what owner Brigitte Prat called a "bittersweet" decision.

Prat, who opened the store named after her daughter in 2001, said the pandemic had magnified challenges facing small businesses such as her own: from competition with Amazon to a small, but growing number of customers who mistreat retail workers over issues such as masks.

“I would say the pandemic magnified it hugely,” she told Patch Wednesday. “It was tough before, but it became insanely difficult.”

“I own the building. I got an offer to leave the space, and it was just time.”

But Prat and her business aren't going away completely.

LuLu's will operate online — a realm that Prat had once avoided as she built her physical business into a "total neighborhood store."

Prat's stance changed, as all things did, over the pandemic. Her daughter, LuLu, built her an online store to keep the business alive while the city remained in a state of tension and confusion.

The online store worked well in the pandemic's early months, Prat said. She'd make home deliveries to distinguish herself from Amazon and sell many items, especially puzzles, at cheaper prices.

"I never in my lifetime sold so many puzzles," she said.

Changing the business kept it afloat, but the pandemic still accelerated problems that Prat saw growing over the years.

In some ways, LuLu's story is a microcosm for the frustrations and challenges facing small businesses, especially during and since the pandemic.

Sales were still down so much for Prat that she couldn't afford a proper staff, which forced her to work seven days a week.

She eventually closed Tuesdays to give herself a break, but that still left her little personal time. And when she was at the store, she found herself confronted by more and more mentally ill people, who did things such as smoke crack inside the business and threaten her with weapons.

Some customers too became problems.

While most were "wonderful," a significant minority would behave with an ugliness — especially over the store's masking requirement — that Prat found difficult to shake.

"I'm a person too," she said, her voice cracking.

The final push, however, came from a place of joy. The store's namesake — LuLu — got engaged on New Year's Eve a few short weeks ago, Prat said.

LuLu, as a 6-year-old, had inspired Prat to open the business two decades ago. The business didn't keep Prat away from LuLu over the years, but it was always looming behind everything, she said.

As the now 20-something LuLu got engaged, Prat said she took it as a sign. She took an offer to leave the space.

“I’m going to make a lot less money, but it’s worth my mental and physical health," she said.

“I’m going to be there for her,” Prat said of her daughter. “I’m over the moon for that.”

LuLu's online business can be found here.