P&T Knitwear is a family-owned independent bookstore, podcast studio, event space, and cafe, run by a team of passionate lifelong readers and listeners.

In 1952, founder Bradley Tusk’s grandfather, Hymie Tusk, and his business partner Mike Pudlo opened the original P&T Knitwear, a small shop selling sweaters and collared shirts at 37½ Allen Street in New York City. The two men survived the Holocaust and met in an American displacement camp in Germany after the war. They emigrated to the Lower East Side, determined, to create better lives for themselves and their families through sheer grit and hustle. When they first opened, Pudlo and Tusk couldn’t even afford enough merchandise to fill the store. They stocked the shelves with empty boxes, hoping to give the illusion of a bustling business. Soon, their creativity and fearlessness paid off.

Today’s P&T Knitwear honors our namesake by giving back to the very same neighborhood that made Tusk and Pudlo’s story, and so many others’ like them, possible. Inspired by Bradley Tusk’s love of books, podcasts, and New York, P&T Knitwear will provide visitors with a space to engage with big ideas, experience purpose-driven community, and explore an extensive hand-curated collection of books and exciting literary voices, whether in our brick-and-mortar store or through our online companion. We’ll also have a specialized focus on tech as well as books by and about New York, always celebrating the city we call home and fueling its spirit of experimentation and innovation.

We’re committed to the power of stories, creativity, and curiosity to bring New Yorkers together. And if you happen to be from out of town, please drop by too, and feel like a New Yorker for the day.