A Family Tradition in Lacy Goods Danny Koch

It is hard to miss Town Shop as you walk down Broadway, with their colorful signage and brightly lit storefront. Upon entering, you experience a combination of contemporary merchandise, in women’s lingerie, and old New York customer service.

The walls are lined with history, showing family photos, old advertisements and articles featuring the store in The New York Times, Harpar’s Bazaar, Glamour, InStyle, and The Wall Street Journal. Smiling sales associates greet customers, offering to help whenever you are ready. This blend of nostalgia and present day fashion can be attributed to their current owner, Danny Koch.

The store has been in the Koch family since 1888, originally on Bleecker Street as a tobacco and stationary store. Koch describes his great grandfather’s entrepreneurship as “the beginning of the Koch family buying and selling,” which has continued for four generations.

By the 1920s, Town Shop transitioned into clothing, selling notions, men’s shirt collars and women’s underwear. Originally called Koch’s, the store switched to Town Shop sometime in the 1950s. After more than thirty years of doing business in New York, the family began to specialize in women’s lingerie.

It wasn’t until Danny and his siblings were attending P.S. 87 and living on 72nd Street and Riverside Drive that the store moved to the Upper West Side, because his mother wanted the store closer to home. Growing up Koch never imagined being involved with the store; he had his sights set on acting.

In his early 20s, after moving to Los Angeles, Koch had a successful career in comedy. His natural charm added to his stand up routine, but no matter how big his accomplishments, his family would always ask when he was moving home. During his childhood, the Upper West Side was an extremely tight knit community, but it wasn’t until Koch moved back in 1988 that he realized the importance of his family’s store.

“It became clear to me how much the neighborhood relied on the store as a community center point,” he said. “I never noticed this growing up.” Older women would make their weekly trips to the store to both shop and catch up on local gossip with his mother. To this day he has mothers bringing their daughters in to be fitted for their first bra, continuing the same memories of their own mothers bringing them to Town Shop years prior.

“What makes our store so popular is that we’re treating customers exactly as we did in 1936, in 2014,” he said. “So many stores are losing sight of real customer service but we have held onto that.”

Although he has continued his grandmother’s sense of customer service, Koch did have to fight to bring the store into the 21st century. He made a huge effort to modernize the store, an effort his customer’s have been extremely grateful for.

“My grandmother would only order two of every size, and it was obvious to me that our customers needed more inventory. I used to order more inventory without her knowing and have it delivered on her days off,” he said, laughing.

Koch was also able to bring the store to its newest location in July 2013, happily leaving their last location due to an aggressive landlord. Having seen so many family-owned businesses pushed out of the neighborhood, Koch worried his family’s store might have the same fate.

It wasn’t until the Zabar family reached out, offering the beautiful 4,000 square foot space, did he realize how much the community cared for his family and their legacy. Koch looked at the space with is father, who excitedly told him “I think we should go for it.” It is the largest store Town Shop has occupied, and despite his original worry about being able to afford such a large storefront, they are now doing better than ever.

“I will always be grateful to the Zabar family for what they’ve done for our us,” Koch said while holding back tears. “I’ve know them for my entire life and they made it clear that they wanted us to have this space.” Danny was able to work in the new store for a year with his father before his passing this past July. Now he is proudly continuing Town Shop’s legacy as one of the most welcoming and community driven stores on the Upper West Side.