...and the plans for the space are sitting on the make-shift desk in the window...
Hold on. Let me pick myself up of the floor....
With the Subway across the street, this is really going to have a suburban feel... In any event, given the space and the high rents, we weren't expecting much aside from a bank branch.
Updated 1:30 p.m.: A 7-Eleven spokesperson tells Garth Johnston at Gothamist that the store will open on Oct. 5.
Previously on EV Grieve:
Looking at 52E4's commercial space, and that cake no one ate
Boutique on Bowery possibly opening today; new lease signs appear at 52E4
Okay, I know I'm the devil cause I work in marketing for real estate development, but isn't this the opposite of luxury? I would never let my developers open such a thing in one of their buildings. Frankly, I'd be offended if I lived in the building. This is disgusting.
ReplyDeletethis is the worst. why can't we just ban chain stores? i'm not anti-business, or even anti-gentefrication necessarily (yeah- I want people to buy my stuff) but 7-11? Maybe a Red Lobster is next! I used to be proud to not even know what 1/2 of these places were- and now they are INVADING THE CITY. Ugh. I miss the Jean Cocteau Rep.
ReplyDeleteWorse than bedbugs and they're multiplying as fast.
ReplyDeleteHave to say I agree with the devil.
ReplyDeleteAlso tend to agree with Allegra LaViola. 7-11 probably has plans to do to mom and pop bodegas what Duane Reade has been doing to mom and pop pharmacies. At some point (tipping point, breaking point?) NYC will be forced to consider what the over-proliferation of chains is doing to the character of our neighborhoods. San Francisco already has. Here and here.
you'd rather this place sit vacant for another 2 yrs, sans the few weeks that it was open as the boutique? maybe the bowery that we know and love is dying a little more... but open doors will keep this space breathing at least.
ReplyDeleteI know this is heresy to say on this blog but I love Slurpees. The rest of 7-11 is pretty lame but there is nothing better on a hot day.
ReplyDeleteWell, they do have many varieties of delicious coffee and the largest sizes cost much less than $2.00.
ReplyDeleteWhoa, I didn't see that one coming.
ReplyDelete@allegra: I went on holiday to Sanibel Island FL last winter and I was so pleased to learn about the local ordinance there that bans chain stores and restaurants. The ban ends up having such a nice effect on the atmosphere of the place and no one is worse for it. It is such an ingeniously simple policy and it reminded me that New York is not the empowered self-actualized place that people assume it to be. It is the smaller towns who actually have and exert control over their own quality of life. Our city is entirely at the mercy of trends, politics and big bucks. To even go looking for quality of life here is completely misguided. There will be no resisting the inexorable waves of Subways and 7-11s as this is not the kind of place where residents possess the power to take control of their own quality of life. NYC is strictly about money and thus it is the corporations who rule the roost here.
ReplyDelete@kurt: I do like the idea of a Slurpee but in reality sucking down 32 ounces of corn syrup and water concentrate tends to make me feel like crap and full of regret.
ReplyDeleteKurt, I grew up on diet Coke Super Big Gulps, driving in my car, waiting to get away to NYC, which I did, and it's been awesome and sometimes when I have a super-sad day yeah I get a huge fountain soda at Subway but I certainly do NOT go to the 23rd Street 7-11 for the actual Big Gulp, because it's only truly good if it's real, and a 7-11 on 23rd or the Bowery is simulacra.
ReplyDelete. . . and I was hoping for a Hello Kitty store!
ReplyDeleteI'm taking this as a sign: maybe the only way to save the Bowery is to kill it.
ReplyDeleteAfter this 7/11, maybe we can get a Dollar Store, Walmart and then a Hooters. Soon enough the boulevard will be so full of crap stores that highend developers will shun this area like it was skid row all over again. How about some fast food joints, but only the major chains? Is it too late to add some xxx video stores and a swill liquor store or 2?
Maybe this is the only way to get the Bowery back. Certainly, SRO's and homeless shelters aren't scaring the big bucks builders away anymore.
Please, everyone spread the news that the Bowery is over; that it's filled with low-rent establishments. If we can get enough crappy outlets on the block, maybe we can deter the hoteliers and their big, glassy towers.
Then, like the crazy guy in War of the Worlds (I prefer Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott on the album over Tim Robbins in the movie), we can build an underworld beneath the red weed where the gentrifiers can't find us.
There's just gotta be a way to use real estate capitalism against itself!
If I were ANY of the people shelling out to live in this "luxury" buildings I would feel like a sucker right about now. Put in a Dean & Deluca or something. A 7-11 is going to attract the exact opposite of luxury come 3AM.
ReplyDeleteGood point Bowery Boy!!!
ReplyDelete7-11 is the epitome of riff-raff. Now the vagrants will have a new place to hang out.
ReplyDeleteNot sure how you can ban chain stores. That's a little extreme. Just don't shop there.
"Just don't shop there" is excellent advice. Shop in the bodega on your block - boycott that sucker.
ReplyDeleteSpread the word: Bodega autentica, nunca la falsa!
@ken fascinating. while the thing against the paint store seems somewhat of a grey area since it was replacing a chain that was there already- I do like the idea of capping the number of chains that can be in the city. Or maybe even in each zip code? why SHOULD there be another DR/Walgreens/CVS/CHASE etc every two blocks? Are we that lazy? And I want to support my neighborhood bodegas where people have labored to make a business and where they close for Ramadan because they want to.
ReplyDeleteI get that it isn't great to have an empty space for years- I agree with that. But why does it have to be a chain? Because the rents are so insanely high, I suppose......
This gets me so worked up. I really hate chains more than anything. They suck the character out of a place with such devastating consequences.
I've lived in London and every area of town has the same 10 shops on each "high street". Boring.
Ok. Need to wind this rant down.
I believe in progress, but 7-11? Hmm. not in LES. Just does not seem to fit the neighborhood.
ReplyDelete711 is good. you are all corny snobs.
ReplyDeleteOut of town, at least, 7-11s are fairly reliable places to get meth (*everything* they sell is bad for your teeth), but they might be going after a have different customer base here. Someone should drop a note to their headquarters asking about this.
ReplyDeleteNYC has a City Planning Commission. This commission hopefully works toward the preservation and the cohesion of communities. But that no longer seems to be the case. In a Daily News article Amanda Burden, Director of the City Planning Commission stated: "It's my job to affect the proces for the betterment of the people who live here, shop here and own businesses here." Another quote: "Each neighborhood has its own personal DNA...."It's my job to find it and save it." As a result of the out-of-scale, out-of-context buidlings being constructed on the Bowery, it's DNA is rapidly being destroyed. The history, culture and diversity of the Bowery is disappearing. Has City Planning become a contradiction of itself?
ReplyDelete