At a time when there are a record number of empty storefronts in Manhattan, P&T Knitwear is designed to be a place of dynamic activity and events, activating Orchard Street and the wider Lower East Side with a new type of space for learning, dialogue, and exchange of ideas. P&T Knitwear was founded by Bradley Tusk, and named after the garment store his grandfather once owned on the Lower East Side.

At its core, P&T is a bookstore. It will display roughly 10,000 volumes, making it the largest independent bookstore in the area. However, the store will also be home to a series of civic spaces, designed to encourage public discourse. A lecture space with raked seating is set up for readings and symposia. When there are no events, the built-in seating will provide a place to sit, read, and talk. A full service cafe will serve coffee and light foods, further encouraging visitors to stay for a while. A children’s reading space beside the cafe, outfitted with soft seating and custom carpets will serve small children and young adults, providing space for families. Finally a podcast studio, fit out with the technical and acoustic infrastructure for professional recording is at the front of the store, facing the street through storefront glass, reminiscent of the historic East Village Radio window which once lived a block away, this space will make a public-facing event out of podcast recording and conversations. The podcast studio is available for any number of the public to use, free of charge.

This mix of civic and commercial program will make P&T a place of intellectual activity, day and night - a new locus for intellectual dialogue on the Lower East Side.