Thursday, May 7, 2009

Avenue C for change?

As I mentioned on April 20, yarn/fabric/gaming shop Olivo's on Avenue C near Fourth Street was closing. Elias Olivo, whose father opened the shop 36 years ago, told me recently that they're simply closing because business has been bad. While the new lease had a modest increase, he said they just couldn't make the business profitable any longer. Olivo said they would remain open for several more weeks.

Meanwhile, I wonder what will happen on this southern stretch of Avenue C. The eastern block between Seventh Street and Sixth Street has a newish high-end wine shop, a soon-to-open brickoven pizza joint called Mr. C's and two vacant storefronts advertising "luxurious" apartments and retail space.

What else is happening on Avenue C?

Fine Fair got a new paint job.



There are several empty storefronts on the west side of Avenue C between Sixth Street and Second Street...





And as I've speculated before, how long before the south side of C at Third Street looks like the north side?



And 272 E. Third St. is now for rent. It has been refurbished to house a doctor's office. (Rent: $4,950 a month.)



One last thing... Yoli (pictured at the left above), a delicious hole-in-the-wall Dominican restaurant with three tables, was closed last night when I walked by... Hope that's not a bad sign...

For further reading on EV Grieve:
What's happening at the Umbrella House?
at

2 comments:

  1. Bowery BoogieMay 7, 2009 at 10:21 AM

    damn, avenue C is a battlefield these days.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Biggest PantsMay 7, 2009 at 12:30 PM

    I love Maria's Cafes empanadas they are the best. I am going to walk over right now just to make sure everything is okay.

    ReplyDelete

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