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On Montclair’s Lackawanna Place, we spied the glam beauty bar poised for an imminent opening – dark wood, metallic bar stools, glass urns filled with fresh citrus…Will they be serving cocktails too?

57 replies on “Bobbi Brown Has Arrived”

  1. I must say it looks rather hip inside…at least what I could spy from the outside…what’s the buzz on The Loft, a couple of doors up? Is that a bar?

  9. How does that have failure written all over it, a woman who started a cosmetics company with no money and sold it to estee lauder for millions of dollars, making her one of the most successful women in the area probably knows what she’s doing…you are all the most negative group, i’m ashamed to be from baristaville everytime i read an open thread

  10. From the NY Post, some time back, as quoted in Baristanet-
    Cosmetics queen Bobbi Brown might be losing customers in Montclair, N.J., because of the activities of her husband, real estate developer/lawyer Steven Plofker.
    Plofker has Montclair residents up in arms over two projects he’s building in the tony bedroom community. And although he’s received the proper permits from the city, the locals charge that Plofker, who makes generous donations to politicians, has the town in his pocket.
    The site of his most recent project is the former location of the Marlboro Inn, a historic hotel that hosted Olivia de Havilland, Helen Hayes and Arnold Palmer over the decades.
    “They’re building 10 high-end, not luxury, houses that use prefab materials,” said one unhappy local resident. “The neighbors are up in arms because of the number of houses. They’re small plots, and are all at angles to the others.”
    Plofker is also embroiled in a dispute with the owner of another of the homes he’s built. The owner refers to the developer as “the nastiest guy I have ever come across,” a source shared.

  13. We should wish her luck. A successful business raises local tax receipts. Good for the town, good for the residents.

  14. Actually, an upscale make-up store would probably do well, husband’s occupation notwithstanding. And Bobbi Brown’s makeup truly is wonderful, especially that gel eyeliner. Love it!

  21. I think it’s sad to put down her business because you don’t agree with her husband’s business.
    And I want to know what projects ‘awful awful’ is talking about…

  22. Bobbi Brown with a storefront in Montclair. Remsen suing Mattox. Surely the apocalypse must be at hand.

  26. I think it’s fine to put down her business because you don’t agree with her husband’s business. I don’t want to support anyone who condones, aids and abets, or profits from Plofker’s business in any way. And it’s clear to me that she at the very least condones it – she’s married to him, after all.

  27. I just don’t think it’s fair to her. Maybe I just don’t understand why people hate this guy so much. Did he kill somebody or something?

  28. Jennn, It can only be one reason – jealousy!
    In the book I’m reading, one of the characters raves about Bobbi Brown lipstick #4. Is that a real product? I’m going to have to check out this store.

  29. The Marlboro Inn- Christopher Court fiasco.
    The renderings looked nothing like the final product and the houses don’t fit in with the surrounding community and are not selling. The renderings also didn’t show the elevation of the development in contrast with the surrounding community and how it would tower over the area.
    We feel that the community lost out big time on this project.
    I’m not jealous I just wish that he had the community in mind and not just profit. We’re the ones left looking at these montrosities EVERY DAY.
    Do you see them EVERY DAY Bloomfield Mama? Have you been by there and seen how large each one of them is and how much of their lots they cover.
    Do you realize that they keep their lights on ALL night to the detriment of their neighbors?

  30. What does Plofker care? He and Bobbi Brown live over in an exclusive area of Montclair away from Crisco. The lights don’t keep HIM up.

  31. I guess because I’m normally a city girl, I don’t see why someone would get so upset about aesthetics of new housing, or regard homes as “monstrosities” when, in my opinion, they look much better than a lot of homes I lived near in outside towns.
    I live near Christopher Court, so I have seen in countless number of times. I also know that it has been vandalized a lot, probably by people who are against it being there. Are you all going to just write off the future residents as pompous, arrogant, and money hungry like you are doing the people involved in the development? I think it is pompous and arrogant to go on the internet and flame the wife of the guy who is just making a living. Sure, you might not like how he makes a living, but he’s not doing anything illegal or physically harmful. He’s bringing housing to your town that doesn’t suit your taste.
    I will give you this, though: I do think it’s unfair about the lights being on all the time (have you filed a complaint somewhere else besides here?).

  32. He’s bringing housing to your town that doesn’t suit your taste.
    Apparently Crisco doesn’t suit anyone’s taste. That’s why they haven’t sold.

  33. Re: From the Livingston College Distinguished Alumni Website re: Steven Plofker :
    Steven D. Plofker, Class of 1978, real estate developer and attorney. Mr. Plofker earned an MA in Urban Planning/Policy Analysis at Harvard and a JD from Rutgers University School of Law, Newark. Among his many community activities, he serves as a member of the Livingston College Deans Advisory Board, Co-Chair of the Mountainside Hospital Campaign in Montclair, is currently Chair of the Finance Committee for the Yogi Berra Museum and Learning Center, is active in the Montclair Economic Development Corporation, and is a Board Member of the Overseers Committee on University Resources at Harvard.
    Professionally, Plofker is a real estate developer who specializes in historic renovations, adaptive re-use of older structures and sensitive solutions to community projects. He is also a practicing attorney in Montclair and is a member of the bar in New Jersey, New York, Illinois, and the US District Court. In 1991, Plofker was a co-founder and Senior Director of Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, a company that grew from a collection of ten lipsticks into full-line global competitor with products distributed in over 300 stores. Plofker later negotiated the sale of the company to Estee Lauder, Inc.
    Historic Renovations ???
    Adaptive re-use of older structures ???
    Sensitive solutions to community projects ????? !!!
    Give me a break.

  34. Historic Renovations ???
    Adaptive re-use of older structures ???
    Does this apply to Bobbi Brown’s makeovers as well?

  35. “I also know that it has been vandalized a lot, probably by people who are against it being there. ”
    I think that this statement is libelous – accusing those who are critical of the Christopher Court development with the theft of property is just plain wrong.
    I think that we (town residents) should be able to sue when the development doesn’t look like the rendering. After all the zoning board and town council approved from the renderings. The developer should be made to rebuild to match the rendering.
    If the developer puts 30 year old trees in the rendering they should be required to plant 30 year old trees. If there is less of a footprint of the house in the rendering they should rebuild so it looks like the rendering.

  36. I too find the Crisco project to be unsightly and too much of the McMansion phenom that is so rampant in places like Dallas and middle America. But bringing Bobbi’s husband into a thread about her store seems like sour grapes.
    She is a savvy businesswoman who has earned her own name and does not deserve fallout from a spouse’s lack of reverence for old architecture. Why not try and separate the two?
    Her business, however, does seem a little ill fitting for Lackawanna Place though. I wonder why she did not choose upper Montclair…Perhaps the now defunct Olympic space or KaBloom?

  37. Wah Wah Wah. I don’t like her husband’s building so I’m going to obsessively rant about her on the internet. OMG.
    Yes, I do see these developments, I live close to Montclair.
    If you don’t like the developments he puts up, that is your right and you can -itch about it at planning board meetings, in letters to the editor, or here…. have at it.
    I don’t understand what this woman has ever done to wrong you people, other than being married to a guy you can’t stand.
    Yes I do see jealousy/envy in these posts. Not to mention unhealthy obsession!
    I checked out the BB website today and I’m looking forward to the store!

  38. Bobbie Brown is a good role model for young women who want to start their own business. A lot of young women look up to her. I applaud her.
    I wouldn’t confuse her with her husband.
    (although I certainly don’t approve of him turning Montclair into a Midwest Strip Mall.)

  39. My statement isn’t libelous. I doubt that people who enjoy the presence of the development are responsible. And it’s not like I said that people who commented here did it, I highly doubt that.
    I suggest you rethink your idea of what libel is before you make accusations that may be [gasp] libelous.

  40. “I think that this statement is libelous ”
    I am allowed to express my own opinion.
    I did NOT make accusations- you did!

  41. Bobbi Brown opened up the store because her husband owns the space…doesn’t he also own The LOFT?
    Since their businesses are intertwined – he owns a portion of hers – why not discuss him.

  42. “I live near Christopher Court, so I have seen in countless number of times. I also know that it has been vandalized a lot, probably by people who are against it being there. ”
    If you know who is vandalizing it please report them to the police. Not reporting them may be a crime in itself.
    One would think that you would be more civic minded than to stand back and let this development be vandalized multiple times.

  43. I know Bobbi Brown and I agree with Jenn. It’s wrong most of you to put her down just becuase you don’t like her husband. They are TWO DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!!

  44. I don’t know who did the vandalism…I only know it occurred because of posts on this site.
    And can someone objectively comment on what it means to accuse someone or be libelous. I have not accused anyone, only given an opinion that “probably” whoever vandalized the homes didn’t like them. Also, I have not stood on the street and watched people vandalize the homes without reporting.

  45. “I don’t know who did the vandalism…I only know it occurred because of posts on this site.”
    So, now you are saying that the vandalism occurred because of posts on Baristanet.
    I am shocked at the allegation.

  46. Hahahah I hope that comment was sarcastic, but since I know people would take that comment wrong, I will clarify by saying I only know the vandalism occurred because the posts on Baristanet said they did.

  48. How nice that Brown & Plofker have found each other so that only 2 people have been made miserable instead of 4.

  49. “If the developer puts 30 year old trees in the rendering they should be required to plant 30 year old trees. If there is less of a footprint of the house in the rendering they should rebuild so it looks like the rendering.”
    If the sky is shaded in pencil, then the developer had BETTER get up there and start shading the sky with pencil!
    If there’s people walking by, the developer had better hire some actors to walk by TWENTY FOUR HOURS A DAY, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

  51. “If the developer puts 30 year old trees in the rendering…”
    Just wait for the new owners to LEVEL THEM, to make room for the new above ground swimming pools they are planning.

  52. there is no room for even the smallest of aboveground pools in CRISCO

  53. First off, it’s really getting old- the complaints about Christopher Ct., I mean- just close your eyes when you walk or drive by them if they upset you that much!!!
    Second, I have heard some truly amazing things that Bobbi has done for her employees, one she helped out tremendously after 9-11, and have spoken to a couple of people that know her and her husband well that they have been very giving to.

  54. “…just close your eyes when you walk or drive by them if they upset you that much!!!”
    Not the safest thing to do while driving (or walking for that matter) but I will give it the old college try just for you!
    “…I have heard some truly amazing things that Bobbi has done for her employees, one she helped out tremendously after 9-11…”
    Ditto for my boss. And, for many of my friends bosses who work in city. Ok, he’s this, that and a bag of chips. Next!
    “…and have spoken to a couple of people that know her and her husband well that they have been very giving to….”
    For every person you can come up with, I can probably come up with three who’ve been at the receiving end of his (their) wrath and indignation.

  55. “Plofker√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s wife, makeup executive Bobbi Brown, attended a hearing on one of her husband√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢s projects for the first time. Brown said her husband works hard to improve their hometown of 15 years.”
    √¢‚Ǩ≈ìAnything that he builds is usually met with opposition because he is visionary, and he usually proves to people that he is right. He is always one step ahead,√¢‚Ǩ¬ù Brown said following the meeting.”
    “Leaving the Municipal Building, Plofker said he hoped the Marlboro Park project takes the course of other development projects he has headed throughout Montclair: skepticism and opposition followed by a realization that his vision would benefit the community.”
    From The Montclair Times, Wednesday, March 31, 2004

  56. √¢‚Ǩ≈ìAnything that he builds is usually met with opposition because he is visionary, and he usually proves to people that he is right. He is always one step ahead,√¢‚Ǩ¬ù Brown said following the meeting.”
    That’s a good one. Visionary, my Ass.

  57. “He is always one step ahead,√¢‚Ǩ¬ù Brown said ”
    He has to be…one step ahead of the crowd of taxpayers who realize that his projects have been approved by the planning board because of unrealistic renderings.

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