The story quickly unfolded in the ensuing 24 hours… turns out the landlord was jacking the rent up to $50,000 a month from $30,000, per Fork in the Road.
Yesterday afternoon, East Village-based Liquiteria emerged as the new tenant for the familiar corner of Eighth Street and Sixth Avenue. Eater, who has been All. Over. This. Story. ... quoted from the chirpy Liquiteria news release: "Liquiteria's new West Village location, at the iconic corner of 8th Street and 6th Avenue, is the former location of legendary Gray's Papaya. Liquiteria is excited to create a health and wellness oasis on this vibrant corner in the dynamic West Village neighborhood."
The quickly expanding Liquiteria also announced that it would open a new location on Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street this spring. We originally heard from a Fourth Avenue tipster that the former Brothers Deli and Dryden Gallery spaces would become a Juice Generation and Pie Face.
Well, Pie Face opened in October … so perhaps Liquiteria is opening in the Dryden space… or, perhaps, in the now-vacant Blimpie location on the northeast corner of Fourth Avenue and East 13th Street.
Liquiteria's flagship store is on Second Avenue at East 11th Street.
[Image via Eater]
One day when I no longer have teeth remind me to look into this juice thing.
ReplyDeleteOh Good Lord No! First Blimpies and now this? Dropping like flies isn't even a proper metaphor any more
ReplyDeleteWould that they'd serve Grey's foamy papaya drink at the same price.
ReplyDeleteNew York City is really starting to suck now, eh ?
ReplyDeleteOh god, their juices go for $9 a bottle at Whole Foods...
ReplyDeleteWHAT!?
ReplyDeleteReal estate to everybody in NYC: Drop dead!
I have loathed Liqueteria for some time. This makes me hate them and their oh-so-precious bullshit even more.
ReplyDeleteoy vey! this was the best hot dog in the world!
ReplyDeleteI-)
Liquidteria? What kind of liquid would anyone every need beyond the Banana Daiquiri and Coconut Champagne that Grey's was already serving?!?
ReplyDeleteWill this juice be administered intravenously? Are there enough customers with no teeth and/or digestive/eating disorders to insure the joint can pay all that rent? Shouldn't they just have opened up in a hospital?
ReplyDelete@Glenn It's for people who want to fetishize their food and purchase the illusion of health.
ReplyDeleteHealth and wellness oasis be damned - this is terrible news. The hot dog and mango drink special was my go-to meal in that part of town for the last thirty years. A quintessential city experience, and affordable for all. Every bit of joy will be drained from that corner.
ReplyDeleteNot sure why anyone is trashing Liquiteria. Oh wait,
ReplyDeleteDoug, the original owner sold it and now a bunch of douchebags are taking the brand global.....
Oh, I've been done and didn't know Doug had sold. I hope he cashed out well.
ReplyDeleteLiquiteria will not do well as a storefront outside of NYC and LA. There just aren't enough people outside of those areas that will pay $8, $9 for a smallish bottle of juice.
They will be competing against Starbuck's "Evolution Fresh" brand, which literally stole an employee from Liquiteria and moved her to corporate in Seattle. The Evolution Fresh juices are already in Whole Foods, and cost $4 to $6 rather than $8+
The high rent could be a factor, but otherwise a west village Liquiteria storefront should do ok.
Yeah, I would have defended Liquiteria to the ends of the earth back in Doug Green's day, but now, not so much. Still it's not as bad as Juice Press, and I think it's weird to lament the loss of a frickin' Blimpie. And Blimpie closed months before Liquiteria planned to take over the space.
ReplyDeleteGray's Papaya was "beloved"? Who knew?
ReplyDelete- East Villager