Little Old New York: Find Yavroom and Find a Gem

By Mitch Broder

It’s a little store, but Aydin Guler thinks it can hold a big dream.

Especially since the big dream is made up of little things.

Just like the sultans wore.

Aydin has rented one of the city’s most famously tiny spaces and filled it with necklaces, bracelets, pendants, and rings from his homeland of Turkey. The mingling of elegant new designs and exotic sultanesque classics can transport you straight to Istanbul, if you don’t get yourself wedged in the store.

The store, in the West Village, is 10 feet by 15 feet, most of which is now taken up by the jewelry and the proprietor. It was formerly a moving-supply depot, after which it was vacant for years. It was mostly too small for big businesses and too expensive for little businesses.

Aydin came to America ten years ago, to find opportunity. He found the opportunity to work at restaurants and flea markets. When he discovered the tiny store he decided to switch to that opportunity. “I’m 41 years old,” he says. “I have to take the risk and start owning a store. It’s a dream. It’s the beginning of the journey. We don’t know the end yet.”

It’s been a slow beginning. His door hasn’t been knocked down. “There are plenty of customers outside,” he says. “But they don’t come in.” He thinks more will when he replaces his temporary sign with a pretty new one. The people who do come in, he says, usually find something to buy.

That’s no doubt because his jewelry is nice and affordable, but also no doubt because Aydin is nice and hospitable. Like many shopkeepers, when you come in he asks you how you are. Then he surprises you by wanting to know. And by caring when you tell him.

He understands the surprise: “Everything’s secretive here. In Turkey people open their problems easily, even if they don’t know you that well.” So along with some Turkish jewelry, you can pick up some Turkish empathy. It’s a lot to get from a store that’s 150 square feet.

For now, Aydin has maintained the moving-depot décor, but the shop will gradually change, he says: “It’s going to be more beautiful.” Yavroom, he says, is a term of endearment. He wants to live up to it. He’s got all the time he needs, he says. And apparently, all the room.

Slip into Yavroom, at 184 Seventh Avenue South, near West 11th Street, New York City.