Monday, June 30, 2014

99-Cent Discount Center latest lost-lease casualty on East 14th Street


[Photo by EVG Facebook friend Cheryl Pyle]

The crowded shop here with a little bit of everything at 440 E. 14th St. just west of Avenue A is closing this week ... lost their lease.

The 99-Cent Discount Center joins former next-door neighbor Stuyvesant Stationery in the Lost Least Club. And, of course, the Peter Stuyvesant Post Office closed in February and reopened a retail space a block away.


[The former post office on Saturday]

So now three, single-level storefronts all in a row will be vacant ... prompting some discussion among EVG regulars again about the possibility of new development along here. Perhaps something like what's going in to the east on 14th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Meanwhile, there's nothing on file with the DOB to suggest any new buildings for 438 or 440 E. 14th St.



Previously on EV Grieve:
First sign of more development on East 14th Street?


[EVG file photo from September 2013]

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

No way will any single floor building survive this decade of "unaffordable housing". The exception may be the Chase branch on 1st ave 15th street, after all how could a landlord get a better tenant?

Anonymous said...

That sucks, although I'll admit that I never shopped there because I don't like "dollar stores' where everything is $3.99. (There are great dollar stores in the Copper Building and next to the KFC on 2nd/14th.)

Soooo when are the real buyouts coming? I'm so ready to move uptown.

Trixie said...

I've shopped there, and I'll miss it, dang it.

Anonymous said...

...and the displacement of the middle and working classes continues.

Anonymous said...

No need to move to the UES, it should be here next year.

Anonymous said...

don't mess with that coffee shop next!!!

Anonymous said...

That store was awful - smelled like mold and cats. The signs may have said it was a dollar store but they jacked up the prices! You could find the same items at 2 other similar places within a block radius. Of course, those are gone now too - gotta go to the place on the corner of E13th and Ave A.

Anonymous said...

I agree with 9:57 a.m., don't mess with the Coffee Shop. Love that place. Usually get eggs...finally got a burger there and it was AWESOME.

Anonymous said...

Yes, because "uptown" = the UES. 9:30, you are part of the problem.

Also, 10:41, I'll have you know that my cats smell like little balls of sunshine! Also there's no dollar store at 13th/A--do you mean 13th/B? I agree, ik's a good one.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:41 - Who cares what it smelled like? You went in there, you hopefully found what you were looking for, you paid, you left. I don't understand the obsessive need to have everything smell like roses all the time and be amazing. And you know what - it didn't smell like anything bad, it was just poorly lit that's all, which given the hyper-market research world we live in "poorly lit" is now associated with "smells bad." The world does not exist to serve you. How long before we hear complaints that 99 cent stores have "too much stuff in them" and 99 cent pop-up shops start appearing selling 5 hand-selected (sorry, "curated") items.

Trixie said...

I did see a little larvae there once, wiggling on the edge of a can, so I never bought perishables or foodstuffs, but I didn't let that stop me from shopping there. Very nice people.

Anonymous said...

A couple of things come to mind. The first is the city's current 1% vacancy rate which has resulted in a development rush in most parts of the city. There is very little in terms of inventory. And many buyers are all cash. Downtown, NYU also charges something like $6,000 a student per semester for shared dorm housing and feeds into the higher prices with limited availability citywide. Take a look at most "2 br" listings in the neighborhood and they usually come in at under $4,000, beating the per head dorm price by just a hair. Try to buy an apartment. Often times you are competing with the parents of these students. Of course, they see it as a good investment rather than throwing the $$ at a beat up NYU dorm.