Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Early Addition
I need a few large pieces of plexiglass for a project I'm working on. Don't ask, but I'm talking big. Short of hauling my butt out to some godforsaken suburban Home Depot, do you know of any place in the city where I could get something like this?
- Pat, Battery Park City
While many people are aware of places such as Restaurant Row or the Garment District, not too many people realize that Canal Street is Manhattan's unofficial plastic district. (Not to be confused with the Upper East Side, Manhattan's unofficial plastic surgery district.)
Situated among the knock-off bags and customized belt buckles for sale along the busy thoroughfare are stores that specialize in plastic in its many forms. Whether you are doing a small art project, looking for a customized display case for your autographed sports memorabilia, creating shelving for a store, or transporting humpback whales to the twenty-third century to save the world, you will find exactly what you need.
Gothamist recommends Canal Plastics Center (345 Canal Street between Wooster and Greene) as a good place to begin your search. The staff is knowledgeable, friendly, and patient. We recently needed plexiglass for a small framing project and the store beat the price of a nearby art supply and picture framing store by about twenty five percent.
Picture from Apartment Therapy.
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Canal Plastics is great, but I'd like to also recommend Just Plastics, located in upper Manhattan at Dyckman St. Take the A train!
Canal Plastics is great, but I'd like to also recommend Just Plastics, located in upper Manhattan at Dyckman St. Take the A train!
These places are ridiculously expensive.
They might be expensive, but they are the last shreds of decency on increasingly schocky Canal Street. When I used to go down there as part of my downtown/village sojours as a kid it was great. There were old electronics store, metal-work places and tons of stuff for people who create or who want to by cheap old stuff. The army surplus back then was amazing! And by 'back then' I mean the 1980s.
Now it's mainly a strip filled with bootleg merchants and not much else. Miserable street.
I'll shed an acrylic tear if the plastic stores of Canal Street disappear.
They are pretty expensive, same with the foam place and the scrap metal place.
I'll either buy on-line or check the home improvement stores.
Canal street was always schocky and many places like the above are over priced and that included "the trader"
While these places are good, but do not let them cut the material down for you. It generally is more expensive to have a single cut on any size of plastic sheet than the full sheet of plastic costs. Cutting sheet plastic is rather easy with simple plastic scoring knife (looks like a dull hooked knife that you can find in many hardware stores).
While these places are good, but do not let them cut the material down for you. It generally is more expensive to have a single cut on any size of plastic sheet than the full sheet of plastic costs. Cutting sheet plastic is rather easy with simple plastic scoring knife (looks like a dull hooked knife that you can find in many hardware stores). Just score the plastic a couple of times and bend on score until it breaks. This will not work on Polypropylene (it's specifically made to bend repeatedly without breakage).
There's a place called Plastic Land that just moved to Church street a block or two south of Canal that i had make some acryclic shelves i put together and definitley worth a stop in.
Was about 1/4 the price of Canal Plastics Center and had a friendly staff that very helpful being that i never purchased chunks of plastic before.
These places are sooo damn expensive that it's better to go to crate and barrel buy a plexiglass table and cut out the shape you need and it would still be ten times cheaper. I swear to god I found pieces of plexiglass on the street that went for 50 bucks a sheet in the canal street store. RIDICULOUS!!!
I just have to say, the reference to The Graduate is brilliant! One of my favorite movie moments.
funny, here I was thinking dogma reference.
I know this is a little old, but I came across this post when looking for where to buy a large supply plastic bottles. The selection there is great and the store clerks are very helpful... I'd definately recommend it.