After surviving a devastating fire that destroyed its sister shop in Sayville almost a year ago, Paper Doll Curiosity Shoppe in Patchogue will close its doors as of December 1. This decision comes just about a month after the triumphant reopening of Paper Doll Vintage Boutique in August.
“It’s with a heavy heart, but hope of a brighter future, that I’m going to be closing Paper Doll Curiosity Shoppe. It’s been a nine-year run, and I want to thank everyone for the support and memories there,” wrote store proprietor Dominique Maciejka in a social media statement announcing its closure on September 22.
Paper Doll Curiosity Shop has existed as a distinctly separate store from her thrift boutique. Branded as a “punk collectable” shop, it had a retro vibe true to the Paper Doll brand, but a different clientele and merchandise. In her statement, Maciejka said that she experimented with bringing some remnants of her thrift shop inventory to the Curiosity Shoppe, but it did not take.
While she managed to keep the East Main Street space in Patchogue open and operational over the past 11 months since the fire, she admits that business has suffered due to financial pressures. She also made it clear that the 2024 fire in downtown Sayville, which gutted the successful Paper Doll Vintage Boutique on October 25, was a significant factor in the difficult decision she has made.
In the meantime, Maciejka’s civil lawsuit against the restaurant owners of the space where last year’s fire on Sayville’s Main Street that originated next door to her boutique, is moving forward.
On September 22, New York Supreme Court Justice Maureen T. Liccione denied the restaurant’s motion to dismiss the case, which claims that subcontractors performed unlicensed renovations that started the fire, was an act of negligence that endangered the public’s safety, and caused Maciejka emotional and financial distress.
Maciejka will liquidate her stock in the Patchogue store over the weeks ahead and then devote her energies exclusively to Paper Doll Vintage Boutique, which has reopened in its new location at 106 Railroad Avenue in Sayville .
