FOOTWEAR FLASH: TOMS To Take Up Residence In NoLita

Wandering shoppers in NoLita over the past week have noticed an intriguing upcoming entry on Elizabeth Street. TOMS is coming soon to No. 264, a shop that has been vacant for quite some time since the closure of Jo's Restaurant a couple of years ago. This will be the third store for the burgeoning shoe company after Venice, California and Austin Texas, and if you have been noticing the pervasive proliferation of the brand's comfy, fabric shoes on trendy young men and women, then you will know that this store will be busy. You will also know that Toms still operates under a one-for-one policy meaning that for each pair of shoes sold, the company donates another to someone in need, so you are really buying two shoes: one for you and one to give away —and they are still pretty affordable.  Since the label's other stores include cafés, it's not unreasonable to expect that this one will too, especially since it is taking over a restaurant space and has recently added its own coffee brand to its offerings along with eyeglasses that will compete with the similarly charitable Warby Parker a few blocks west in SoHo. There's no specific opening date posted yet, just 2014, but since there are only about four months left of this year, we can safely expect to start shopping there sometime before the Holiday season —maybe even earlier.

TOMS Shoes Opening Flagship NYC Store on Elizabeth Street (Bowery Boogie)