We recently noticed the Casa Gusto, the relatively new gelato shop at 199 Avenue A near East 12th Street, was closed. We thought maybe it was a seasonal thing. Not so. The space is for rent. Casa Gusto didn't seem to last too long. They just opened at the beginning of the year, taking the storefront of the former Milo Printing.
15 comments:
The secret is in the hoof!
This place opened with zero fanfare. They didn't even make an effort to get customers in the door, and they weren't open regularly. What was the point of opening in the first place?
I wonder what the survival percentage is for new businesses in the east village. The smaller retail spaces lend themselves to smaller startups but young entrepreneurs aren't always as biz savvy to get past the hurdles of the first 5 years of a new business.
I guess gelato ISN'T the new frontier then.
I guess it must be biscuits!
I truly do not believe I ever once saw a customer in there.
Per some of the comments above, I have been surprised as to what a non-entity the recently opened frozen yogurt place on A off of 5th has been. Irregular hours, mostly seems entirely empty, just a young girl behind a counter constantly, and I do mean constantly, texting away on her phone. I mean if you are not going to even try, why bother?
Disclaimer: I certainly don't know how the frozen yogurt market works, have never even tasted the stuff, so maybe this is in fact how it is done.
frozen yogurt at this point in time hardly seems like a novel idea for a business, it's seasonal so if you are contemplating opening a shop in the future make sure to sell hot dogs for the warm months or maybe biscuits?
The half-life of a new frozen yogurt or gelato place seems to be a few months at most.
And when I think how well all those bodegas seemed to do in the early 90's on Avenue B, and their entire stock consisted of nothing but those little plastic bottles of blue or green sugar drink, and some ancient boxes of detergent!
Oh yes and all that cocaine, which many of them would not sell to me because I looked too much like a cop.
Now THAT was a business plan!
The folks in the frozen yogurt shop at A & 5th are very nice and the stuff is good; I got some a couple of times. They try to display / promote artwork by local artists, which could be cool, but overall the space totally lacks ambiance, especially in comparison with the croissant place next door. I wish them all the best, but it's not looking great right now.
For all those who hate the fake hype around the biscuit place, try to support regular people who open a business like the yogurt shop on A & 5th or the small coffee shop on 5th, near Ave B. Notice how we all hated on the biscuit dudes for their ridiculous PR, but now people are commenting that the gelato & frozen yogurt folks "aren't even trying." It's hard to make it in this neighborhood, so let's support the simple businesses run by good people who don't have PR teams on their side.
^
Good comment.
I agree it's not looking good for the yogurt place on 5th. Hope they figure it out.
I was surprised to see the yogurt shop on A & 5th open last night, they are the organic place I think? It seemed they opened one weekend and then were never open again. I've been enjoying Davey's, its not super sweet but tasty.
When I posted not even trying above, I meant the girl just sitting there texting texting texting away, it gives a terrible impression. Yes I know it is boring sometimes, but I would never allow an employee to sit in plain sight in an open business and do that. Guess I am old fashioned.
When I worked food joints as a kid, one of my first bosses taught me, there is ALWAYS SOMETHING TO CLEAN. Even when there is nothing dirty.
Tough business - ice cream of any kind. Davey's is so good, but the price is prohibitive.
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