Gracious Home Permanently Shutters Upper East Side Outpost

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The Gracious Home location on Third Avenue has officially closed its doors to the Upper East Side.

Despite previous news of a potential relocation for the longtime houseware store, an employee at the company confirmed with Patch that the store had been shut down earlier this month.

In early January, shoppers contacted Patch after noticing a "For Rent" sign hanging above the store, fearing that the iconic Manhattan shop was leaving for good.

At the time, a worker at the Third Avenue store, which has been in the same location since the late Natan Wekselbaum first opened the business in 1963, told Patch that Gracious Home was merely relocating to a larger space.

However, it seems now like that plan won't come to fruition.

A company employee told Patch on Tuesday that the company's remaining store is in Tennessee.

Founder Wekselbaum, a Jewish man born in Cuba, opened Gracious Home as just a 2,000-square-foot hardware store to start, according to his New York Times obituary.

Together with his brother David, Wekselbaum expanded the shop into a renowned destination for discerning shoppers seeking quality—and occasionally rare—items.

At its peak, the stores employed 500 workers and had locations across Manhattan, but the business eventually faltered from overexpansion and the family sold the business and retired in 2010, Patch previously reported.

In 2018, the new Gracious Home owners were looking into expanding once again after declaring bankruptcy with a new store in Soho, but no new stores were opened.

Gracious Home remains focused on selling luxury bed and bath linens, designer lighting, table linens, fragrances and decorative accessories — along with a unique assortment of furniture and paper goods.