At the northern end of the Madison Avenue shopping corridor, the first Black-owned business on this iconic strip is keeping a foothold. Donald Moore was unemployed when he first walked through the door of ArtBag more than 60 years ago.
"He used to come home and make the bags after work," Chris said of his father."I would go downstairs and help him.""It's invaluable when you can spend that time with, you know, your idol," Chris said. "I remember clients who were pregnant with their children in 1993, and now they're coming in with their daughters and their grandchildren," Chris remarked.
Many of the refurbished purses are worth thousands, like one bag that took four different paint colors to create the perfect blend of burgundy.Showing an old Gucci bag, Chris said,"You can see here that there's a second row of stitches...We stitch in the same stitch holes as opposed to creating a second row of stitching."