
original williamsburg store located on bedford avenue
carrie behind fence + friend joan c1997
beacon’s closet owner and founder, carrie peterson, moved from tucson to williamsburg in 1996.
carrie arrived on the heels of her brother and his group of friends who had been living on metropolitan avenue, in a warehouse turned apt. that was wedged between a gas station (now a bank) and the golden dragon chinese restaurant. carrie took up digs with him until finding a place to settle, ultimately in a storage room in the back of the original location of beacon's at 110 bedford.
after a brief period of temping and working uninspiring office jobs in the city, carrie ultimately maxed out her credit cards and rented the original store location on bedford + n. 11th, which had remained vacant for some time before the store moved in. though difficult to imagine now, in 1997 this location was considered by some as a bit far down the stretch, and a questionable spot for foot traffic.
there were a few local businesses and hang out spots at the time: teddy's, sweetwater, mugs, the charleston, the right bank, rubulad, up and coming mighty robot (now secret project robot). for shopping, there was max and roebling, earwax, ugly luggage, sid's junk shop, main drag music, and of course, domsey's. popular restaurants were oznot's dish, the s & b, veracruz, kasia's, kellogg's, and lest we forget, the L cafe.
as for beacon's, initial inventory came from her own personal stock, closets of friends, and thrifting.
as williamsburg grew exponentially, so did the shop, the inventory, and those dang rents.
both beth moon-burgess and lily ciccarone were managers for many years at the second williamsburg location, and ultimately earned partnerships with carrie and cindy in the manhattan and bushwick stores respectively.

carrie, 16 years old, painting the bedroom black c1987

williamsburg 1997

the first beacon's



interior of original location

sam

happy shoppers c1998

molly s. at the buying counter, bedford location

carrie, jay & thermos

the first park slope location

carrie at first park slope location

co-owners of park slope, first location

park slope co-owner + thermos / pups that make it work

friends of beacon's: vashti w., wolfie & etain f. / marrisa j., cindy (co-owner), micki p.

second williamsburg location, 88 n.11th St.

n.11th st interiors & faces

n.11th c2012

cindy-last day at n11th

beth and baby sammy manhattan location

bushwick location coming together

cindy and carrie <3

thermos 1995-2008, our beloved friend,
original store concierge, and goodwill ambassador