By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2026-09-25 17:06:40 | Updated at 2026-09-25 19:25:13
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It’s a sign of the times.
The Harry Styles pop-up store in the East Village is causing havoc for neighbors of the promotional merch outlet — as the massive line of the crooner’s fans is blocking traffic, slowing the mail and even leading to one local being arrested for threatening a guard’s throat with a key.
The Together Together shop’s boisterous line has completely taken over Second Street since it opened last month in conjunction with the start of Style’s 30-show residency at Madison Square Garden.
Residents say the store has made the atmosphere in the trendy neighborhood go in just one direction, straight downhill — as they complain that other businesses are being blocked, Styles fans are getting aggressive and the store’s staff has been rude and dismissive.
“There hasn’t been outright consideration of businesses on the block,” fumed Isabelle Phillips, an actor who works at a store on the block.
“[The lines] hurt businesses. Everyone’s avoiding the street like the plague,” Phillips said of the decreased foot traffic, adding that the pop-up staff’s poor attitude has only made the situation worse.
“I got a little sass this morning from people who were working and I’m sure there’s some egos involved.”
The nuisance lines sprouted Aug. 26 to celebrate the opening of the pop-up, which will run through Nov. 1, when the former boy-band warbler’s run of solo shows ends.
But the near-daily surge of fans hasn’t slowed as the weeks wore on — forcing area residents to deal each day with crowd control barricades and lines that weave down the sidewalk and around the block.
The Post on Thursday witnessed the line even crossing in the middle of the street — with staff stopping traffic to allow the fans to jaywalk.
The fans wouldn’t even make room for a frustrated mailman, whose desperate pleas for the line to move out of his way fell on deaf ears.
“There is no space, no room to get by … They see me coming and they won’t move. I’m not wearing this uniform just to come down here,” the mailman, 50, gripped, saying his job takes 15 minutes longer because of the crowd of fans of the “Sign of the Times” singer.
“Without all these people, I am in and out. Life is much easier. I want it to be over soon just for work purposes.”
One shop owner even landed behind bars last week after getting into a kerfuffle with one of the line’s security guards.
Bonnie Slotnick, of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, declined to talk with The Post until after she finds “out what happens to me” at her November court date for the menacing charge, but admitted to a local blog that the run-in came after weeks of escalating tension.
“She was standing, not for the first time, where I park my bike, which is attached to the railing of the building. And she wouldn’t move. I asked her to move again. She threw her hands up and said, ‘I don’t talk to you,'” Slotnick told EV Grieve.
“I can’t remember exactly how the name-calling started … I had just turned around from locking the Kryptonite lock on my bike, and I had that key in my hand. Just the key. The shank was maybe an inch long. I held it between my fingers, and I shoved it in her face — actually more like at her neck.”
Slotnick alleges that the security guard grabbed her hand and left a bruise, but she was arrested by cops for second-degree menacing.
The shop owner said the tension started the first day that the fans started swarming the pop-up space: “The situation had been going on for weeks and it was very upsetting. It was nerve-wracking to have to deal with hundreds of people outside my store and these security people.”
Barbara Horn, a volunteer member of Albert’s Garden, a “serenity garden” next to the pop-up that she says in recent weeks “hasn’t been very serene.”
“They established a relationship with neighbors, but as time goes on, it gets a little wary,” said Horn.
“Maybe people will shop in some of the stores, but it feels more like tourists, not New Yorkers. I just don’t know if they needed so many days in so much space. They have changed this neighborhood, temporarily.”
Another worker on the block described the security guards as “feisty,” but defended the long lines, saying that waiting hours in a line to participate in a viral event has become a New York-ism.
Staff at Rosie’s even celebrated the lines, saying the pop-up has brought extra business to the Mexican hot spot.
Neither Styles’ team nor the property owner responded to The Post’s request for comment.
