Friday, April 5, 2013

The disappearing storefronts of East 14th Street



Today, Ray's East Side 99-cent store on East 14th Street near Avenue B will close, as these photos by East Village Hawkeye show...





Ray has already moved around the corner, where he set up a 99-cent store in the base of the Copper Building last fall. The landlord here apparently wanted a big rent hike.

However, we do not know what will happen to Ba, who has a sliver of a shop next to East Side where he sells socks, gloves, phone chargers, etc. Ba told EV Hawkeye that he wants to stay in the neighborhood, but hasn't found a space yet. (Ray doesn't have enough space on B to accommodate Ba.)

Meanwhile, the storefront to the east, where La Isla was, remains for rent.



And there are several empty storefronts just to the west. ABC Animal Hospital moved last week to Avenue A ... Bargain Bazaar closed for good on Jan. 3 ... its neighbor to the east, Petland, closed and is supposedly relocating...

A still-unspecified new development will, some day, eat up much of the block. As we previously reported, eight parcels consisting of 222 Avenue A and 504 - 530 E. 14th St. (excluding No. 520) were leased for a 99-year period by the respective owner of East Village 14 LLC.

As we understand it, the remaining businesses will not have their leases renewed. What will be gone...




Another time, we'll discuss the next block up, past Avenue A, where all those single-level businesses are lined up next to the likely-closing Peter Stuyvesant Post Office. This is all drool-worthy space for some developer ...



Previously on EV Grieve:
East 14th Street exodus continues

Conspiracies: What next for 14th Street and Avenue A?

Those ongoing rumors about the future of East 14th Street between Avenue A and B

Petland is moving away from East 14th Street, fueling more new development rumors

[Updated with correction] 8-lot parcel of East 14th Street primed for new development

Bargain Express has closed on East 14th Street

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am dreaming of 2 things for Ave A and 14th Street

1. L Train Subway entrance on Avenue A

2. A Trader Joes

vzabuser said...

Didn't Rainbow just open in that space in the last couple?

Bowery Boogie said...

shuddering to the thought that this whole block will be some glassy dorm for nyu.

7busyBee said...

only Xmas items 50% off? is that an old picture? why wouldn't other things be 50% off?

What are the hours today?

EV Grieve said...

@ 7busyBee

The photos are from March 14. I have more current photos, but I liked that Ray was in these shots. I do not know why xmas items aren't more than 50% off. Perhaps he will save them for next season for his store on B.

And sorry — don't know the exact hours of business today.

Anonymous said...

a trader joe's at avenue A? what's the matter? too damn lazy to go over to 3rd avenue?

Anonymous said...

99 cent store. Most items are negotiable at the register. Not all, but most.

Anonymous said...

Not Lazy to go over to 3rd Avenue - I am lazy to fight the overwhelming crowds in the store that is constantly overcrowded and then stand in a check out line for 30 minutes

Anonymous said...

Gotta say, I usually dont worry too much about a lot of gentrification. I mean, that's NYC -- it has and will always change and change and change and change.
However, yuppy-ing up the East Side of 14th street, and deep into ABC Town....man. That shit just gets me shaking my head. Cant we have just ONE FUCKING AREA of a little weirdness? Of a little grime? Those stores are awesome and not from the Modern Age. They're weird. I love shopping in them. Those bars -- Blarney and Otto's. That's some of the only old skool oddity shit left. Cant they have any mercy???? Ha. All you can do is laugh right?
Yeah I'll be kinda sad if NYU has some big glass shiny monstrosity built up there. It just wont make sense.
But then, what does these days?
Still wouldnt live in any other place in the world.......
And really -- a Trader Joes and an L stop?? Fuck off. You seriously cant walk 2 blocks?

Anonymous said...

I'm not dreaming of a Trader Joe's. Since Sandy have been finding myself on Avenue C for groceries. The reopened C Town and the terrific butcher in the small market at 11th and C are great.

Anonymous said...

Not too lazy.... I am just too lazy....uhhh.....
ummmmm.....uhhhh.........
Pluto

Anonymous said...

Anon 948 AM: You're terribly naive if you think there wouldn't be lines at a Trader Joe's on Avenue A. It would be equally as horrific as the one on Union Square, because of Stuy Dorm across the street.

dwg said...

Heard that 14th St Cleaners will stay on 14th but move farther East between A and B.

Anonymous said...

seriously 14th STreet btw Ave A and Ave B
isn't weird .. it is just low rent and gross

sorry but i haven't heard anyone pipe in how amazing Rainbow is to clothes shop
and the 99 cents stores really add to unique weirdness that is the east village.

this block has been a disaster for years it has added nothing to the east village - good riddance

As far as Avenue A opening to L train .. I guess all those people in on Avenue B c and d who are currently multi avenues away from subway should just fuck off

why make their commute any easier ?

Anonymous said...

What will happen to the laundromat??

frank said...

So decent deals. If you wanted to stock up on candles, they have good prices. Some generic dressings and ketchup for a dollar.

Nothing I needed but there are some knick knacks that others may find useful.

Anonymous said...

Wow, it's incredible the changes. I lived on 14th between B and C from 1996-2004 and I still think nostalgically of those times and often wish I lived back in the EV. But seeing this is pretty sad. If Blarney Cove closed, it would be the absolute end.

Xine

Anonymous said...

An entrance for the L on Ave A just makes simple planning sense. It extends the system east towards a hugely under served population and all it will take to do it is a staircase. The station already runs the entire block. In the past I've written all the local elected officials suggesting that this is a useful capital budget project for the MTA and all I've ever gotten back is basically "yes, that's a great idea. I don't why we haven't done that and we'll look into it and get back to you." They never have.

glamma said...

oh man. RIP to the greatest drycleaner ever.
even when i lived in queens for 5 years i still did my drycleaning there!!!
(sheds tears)

Anonymous said...

There's an L on 1St avenue- by the time the train pulled away from 1st it would have to stop at A- that is really lazy- if the train stopped at every lazy person's preferred block it would take an hour to get to Williamsburg. And I for one like those cheap stores and the gritty non-polished shopping strip. God forbid everything isn't luxury or mallified.

Anonymous said...

Actually there should be an L Train entrance/exit on 14th & Ave B which would be the most practical place for it. A grassroots effort to get the city to make this happen would be a great thing. EV Grieve is perfect guy to get this going and get a petition going. The infrastructure is already in place there for them to make a few minor construction adjustments.

The 99 cent store is great and the crazy lady behind the counter is funny. The Ghetto Fried Chicken place is great. I wish that the old Dynasty Diner was half-way good, the new ownership has sadly lowered the quality. Dynasty's food was actually pretty good, the new place stinks and the service is abysmal. Bargain Bazaar was a real good place for inexpensive stuff that the chain stores rob people for, sorely missed.

blue glass said...

two blocks can be a very long distance for somebody that is elderly or disabled or can't carry heavy groceries.
that is why you see so many older and/or disabled folks on the "local" buses and why a (sometimes) 45 minute for a local bus can be a real problem for passengers.
a lot of people that comment think that folks like them are the only folks that inhabit this universe.

Jill said...

The laundromat is planning to move to the La Isla space, but they still have a couple years to go, so they've said.

Adding two large residences to 14th will dramatically impact the infrastructure here. In addition to what will happen at A and 10th (flea market), they could be adding potentially 1000 new residents to this area (approx).

Anonymous said...

Where the Petland store? I did go to see the Petland at 1 ave and easy 19th ST and still no there. I am disappointed. Do you know where the Petland store at? Let me know....

Anonymous said...

So we need to put subway stops at every block for elderly people? That would make no sense, it's inefficient- the whole point of the subway is rapid transit. Access-a-ride and Busses are there for a reason- no stairs to climb and more local stops. The elderly and infirm probably wouldn't want to negotiate the several flights of stairs most train stations have.

Anonymous said...

found out that the laundromat is moving to the old dollar store in the 4 months or so. some older gentleman who i think is the manager or owner was talking about the spaces and said the dollar store was bigger than some other spot.

Mark Hand The Catchman said...

Welcome to planet NYU

Gojira said...

Rainbow now has huge Day-Glo orange signs up announcing that the store is closing and everything must go. I stuck my head in to find out when they were closing; they told me April 20 is their last day in business.

Anonymous said...

putting an L train exit at avenue A would be a good idea, but the only way that will ever happen is if the mta also puts in an ada elevator at the same station, the ada elevator most likely will be located at first avenue; which means major construction.