Owner Jeannie Gesthalter, wearing a Mitchies Matchies mink hat (on sale), in front of her store at 60 W. 75th Street. Pom-pom is optional. Photo by Lee Uehara.
After 40 years of selling headwear, the owner of Jeannie’s Dream is tipping her hat to the Upper West Side and closing her West 75th Street shop.
“It’s just the right time for me to say farewell,” Jeannie Gesthalter shared. “I love my hats. I love making them, fixing them, everything to do with them. And I will miss them.”
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“I hope to be closed by the latest January 31st, perhaps a few days before,” she said. High-end finds include those made by Italian hat maker Borsalino because they’re crushable, packable, water-resistant, and so soft and light you won’t know you have a hat on your head, Gesthalter said.
ILTUWS covered the opening of Jeannie’s Dream back in August 2021.
Jeannie’s Dream started 28 years ago in Cedarhurst, Long Island, before making its way to the Upper West Side in 2014, Gesthalter said. It was first located at 245 West 72nd Street and was open for seven years until July 2020.
The shop offers hats ranging from $29 to $1,750, designer jewelry, hair accessories made with Swarovski crystals, capes, and gloves. Inventory also includes hats from Philip Treacy, the London milliner who designs pieces for the Royal Family and American celebrities.
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Gesthalter says it’s been fantastic fun and that she’s met a world of the most interesting people and designers.
“I love my people. I miss my old people from Cedarhurst, Long Island. I miss my people from 72nd Street, and I’m gonna miss 75th Street the most,” Gesthalter said. “I loved every minute of it.”
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I’m happy that she’s leaving on her own terms. I’m also happy she got to live her dream. What a wonderful story.
I’m worried, though, that we don’t have the next round of young people opening stores and following dreams — because we’ve concentrated so much wealth into the older generations and made it so hard for younger people to survive, much less build something like this. People can self-justify by blaming avocado toast or, like every generation since the cavemen, claiming that the younger generation is lazy. But our young people hustle hard — the money just isn’t there, the opportunities just aren’t there, and the safety nets aren’t there if they fail. We let wealth inequality get out of control, and undermined young people who might otherwise take a risk and follow a dream like this.
The result is that the old and rich get older and richer, but there’s nowhere for them to buy hats. We have to build a world where a young person can open a store and sell them hats.
Thats so true. It just doesnt seem possible anymore. Great comment Bob. I hope things go back to how they were
The one on 72nd street was only open a few months. Not 7 years.