Store full of NYC-made goods is the ultimate tariff beater — meet the ‘shop local’ queen behind its meteoric rise
NY Post
Tariffs busting your budget? One charming NYC shop is here to save your wallet — and your conscience.
Tucked away at 434 Sixth Ave. in the West Village, the Locavore Variety Store is helmed by “shop local” queen Caroline Weaver, an entrepreneur on a serious mission to change the way New Yorkers consume.
Since opening a year ago, the “shop about shopping” has become something of a gold mine for quirky, homegrown finds — sourced within 100 miles of the Big Apple.
Amid candy-colored decor, quirky displays show off 700 products from over 130 regional makers. There are household essentials — cleaning supplies, kitchen utensils — pantry staples like green goodies made by Eddie’s Pickles in Maspeth, Queens, and unusual notions and gifts like cigarette lighters made with Dum Dum gum wrappers by comedian and downtown denizen Amy Sedaris.
“I want to remind people that shopping is fun,” Weaver told The Post. “It’s about going out, experiencing our neighborhoods, discovering something new and having fun.”
Weaver’s retail journey started with the beloved CW Pencil Enterprise, a cult-favorite stationery spot she ran from 2014 to 2021 on the Lower East Side.
The killing of Iran’s tyrannical Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday in an unprecedented joint military attack by the US and Israel called Operation Epic Fury set off widespread celebrations from Iranians around the world — as President Trump said it would give them their “greatest chance” to “take back the country.” Meanwhile, in Iran, a lack of internet has made it impossible for Iranians to easily communicate daily conditions. Over a period of three days, with limited VPN connection, an eyewitness currently in Tehran — who, for her safety, is concealing her identity — shared her account of life under a country in the midst of battle with The Post’s Natasha Pearlman.
After exactly 120 years, the curtain has fallen on the Theater District institution Barbetta, with the iconic Italian restaurant having served its final course Friday night.