City Copies on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue closed about one week ago. An EV Grieve reader noted the friendly owner. "I'd go in and he'd call me 'friend.' He knew what I needed." According to the reader, the owner could no longer pay the rent and the high taxes.
And this is an awfully big space...likely destined to become some kind of specialty food joint to fit alongside the other eateries down on Seventh Street...
The barbershop at 150 E. Second St. near Avenue A is gone... (This shares the address with Nicky's, which will move...)
And Village Fabrics on First Avenue and 11th Street is on the way out... there's a "for rent" sign above the store now...
Previously on EV Grieve:
Of the 147 storefronts on Avenue A, 70 of them are bars, restaurants or vacant
not village fabrics! has it closed for good already? i've had my eye on that place, it's too interesting to survive in this increasingly dulled neighborhood.
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ReplyDeleteI miss Oscar Adrian Beauty Shop on E. 7th Street off 2nd Avenue--best color and style--Italian products--(1980s-90's)now a Photocopy store--I am digressing--grievous loss nonetheless.
ReplyDeletenooooooooooooooooooo village fabrics?!#$%! wtf
ReplyDeleteWow I just bought a big bag of pillow stuffing at Village Fabrics last week and there was no hint that it was going away. While I was there he was in the middle of a nice pitch trying to sell a sewing machine to a woman. It made a nice zig zag but I didn't stick around to see if she bought it.
ReplyDeleteP.S. If anybody wants an almost full pound bag of pillow stuffing, I only needed a small handful... let me know! (My son dreamed about big plans to use the leftovers to make "fluffy pillow slippers" but I doubt it will ever come to fruition since we don't have a sewing machine. Or fabric. Or a fabric store. Or talent to sew it all up.)
Village Fabrics - serious bummer. Corner - not a bank, not big enough. Ditto no restaurant. It's within 500 linear feet of the entry to Asser Levy so it can't be a bar. What next, I wonder? (That space used to be a great Salvation Army in another lifetime, maybe one of the displaced thrift stores...yeah right, Lisa, dream on.)
ReplyDeletei will gladly take your stuffing jill! i love to sew
ReplyDeleteum. i remembered when that copy place opened a couple years ago. huge eyesore. it used to be a quaint lingerie shop and then they came with their huge neon signs. good riddance
ReplyDeleteThat sucks! There used to be so many great fabric and trimmings stores along 1st Ave...remember Diamond, on the west side of the avenue between 10th and 11th? I loved it, and found gorgeous stuff there, but was always afraid the bolts of fabrics would come down on my head and entomb me forever in tulle and jersey. And way in the back there was a scary (and smelly) door and staircase leading to the cellar, where I always imagined Norman Bates, or Cthulhu, lurked...
ReplyDeleteThere was a great trimming store run by a wonderful old couple where China Star is now, and another in the vicinity of Atomic Wings...and another terrific fabric place where the shoestore is on the SW corner of St Marks and 1st...
Now where the hell do I go to buy material??
@HippieChick - go to the garment district. It's not that far.
ReplyDeleteto the two remaining fabric stores on the other side of houston, but only until they lose their leases next month.
ReplyDeleteVillage Fabrics are very nice people. They serviced my sewing machine once. They had a great selection for such a tiny space. So add me to the chorus of sads.
ReplyDeleteI love the Garment District, but a lot of those places shut right at 5, plus it's a PITA to haul ass to the West 30s just for a zipper or 3 yards of lining or whatevs. Also, the GD is cheap for the bulk buyers/adventurous, but the better-known stores can be quite pricey. I only go to Mood to touch stuff (and to say hello to Swatch: http://ny.racked.com/archives/2009/07/31/store_sidekicks_swatch_at_mood_fabrics.php) :)
RIP Village Fabrics
Rainbow Falafel on 17th St. just off Union Square is in danger of vanishing. A trendy new sausage lunch place opened up next door and the putrid smell of their garbage is wafting into the falafel place and having a negative impact on business. The Syrian family that owns Rainbow has called 311 several times but nothing has been done. Is there anything we can do to keep it from vanishing?
ReplyDeleteNOT VILLAGE FABRICS!!!! OMG I DIDN"T KNOW!!!!! I'm sorry, I love that place, I'm getting emotional here!
ReplyDeleteI live next to CityCopies and tried to shop there several times. I noticed that the owner was difficult and rude. Not only did he give me a hard time but I noticed that he was confrontational with other clientele. Lets be honest here, no ones going to shop at a store that treats you like that.
ReplyDeletethere is one fabric shop left on first avenue - between 9th and 10th streets, east side of first ave - called gizmo.
ReplyDeletethere used to be a great number of small, family-owned, reasonably priced stores here.
in fact when i moved here the only thing you could NOT get was grown-up's shoes. but if you walked up to (i think) 19th street and fist avenue you could get almost any shoe.
now there are hundreds of things you cannot get here. too bad.