THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 12, 1994 TAG: 9412120058
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Even at 432 square miles, it seems Suffolk isn't room enough for two New Yorks.
Consider the 100 block of W. Washington St.
First, Ki Byeong Lee opened New York New York, a mini-emporium stocked with shoes, jeans, hats and other fashion items.
Then, two doors down, Mark Khubani opened New York Fashions, a mini-emporium stocked with shoes, jeans, hats and other fashion items.
Both merchants like the high-style, cosmopolitan image their New York names project.
But those little-town blues aren't exactly melting away.
Lee sued last month, saying Khubani's store name is ``deceptively similar'' and hurting his business.
Khubani fought back, saying Lee just can't handle the competition.
Lee said Khubani sells junk and is jeopardizing the block's New York image.
Khubani said Lee sells junk, and is making it hard for him to develop a New York image.
A Circuit Court judge settled part of the retailers' rift last week when he ruled against Lee - the stores and their names are different enough to satisfy the law, he said.
But the two shop owners, both trying to have a go in the city's struggling, downtown retail district, are waging a type of silent fashion feud.
Their stores are named for the city that never sleeps. But Lee and Khubani are like the citizens who never speak.
``It didn't have to be like this,'' said Lee, who bought his downtown shop in 1987. ``I would have worked it out, if he wanted to.''
``It didn't have to go this far,'' Khubani said, two doors down. ``We could have had dinner or something and worked things out.''
Lee started the downtown dispute, saying Khubani wasn't playing fair when he opened a nearby New York namesake in August. Lee had a lawyer send Khubani a letter, figuring his new neighbor would quake under a load of legalese.
But Khubani had his own lawyer and wasn't about to abandon his store's metropolitan moniker.
In court last week, Judge Rodham Delk sided with Khubani. Though the stores are similar, they are different enough that customers won't confuse them, the judge said.
Khubani, for instance, specializes in $159 suit/shirt/shoes combinations. Lee doesn't sell suits, but he does sell wigs and hair extensions.
``If I opened a restaurant, called it Howard Johnson's, got an orange roof and sold the same food, I'd have a problem,'' said Mark Skolrood, Khubani's attorney. So, the two shops will stay open, both named after ``fashion city,'' as Lee calls New York. And both men say they welcome the competition.
Maybe after Christmas, they say, we'll see who's king of the hill - top of the heap.
``I'll stay out of his way if he stays out of mine,'' said Khubani, who operated a store called New York Fashions in Georgia before moving to Suffolk last August.
``I don't need to talk to him,'' Lee said. ``I'll keep doing my business like before.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MICHAEL KESTNER, Staff
Mark Khubani, of New York Fashions, survived a legal challenge from
Ki Byeong Lee, of New York New York. Both men operate shops on the
100 block of W. Washington St. in Suffolk that sell shoes, jeans,
hats and other fashion items.
by CNB