So it would have been hard to imagine, at the outset of the pandemic, that the most seemingly dangerous assassin was yet to appear. Koenigsberg, a former makeup artist, is also beholden to a landlord who has been hit with building-code violations and was sued by the city for running illegal Airbnb rentals. The end might have come a dozen times and all too predictably. Over two decades, her business has survived repeated onslaughts - from the unchecked commercialization of the Lower East Side and the codified tastes of the Instagram age, to incursions from retailers like the RealReal (the San Francisco-based consignment “disrupter”) and the dramatic shifts in buying habits brought on by Covid. The vibe is unflashy - Oxfords, silk blouses with bows, dresses with labels from department stores that long predate eBay. Occupying the ground floor of a small tenement building, the store, Ellen, is about the size of a master bath in a fancy apartment. Ellen Koenigsberg has owned a vintage clothing store on Ludlow Street for 20 years, a feat so remarkable it puts you in mind of the runner who maintains a lightning pace well into middle age, past serial injuries.
