Monday, February 22, 2016

[Updated] Chopt opens today at 51 Astor Place; free salads in return for a donation



Chopt opens today over at 51 Astor Place/the IBM Watson Building/Death Star ... on the Fourth Avenue side at East Ninth Street...

And the self-described globally inspired salad company has an incentive for people to eat a salad (or salad wrap!) today via their Chopt Gives Day.

Via the EVG inbox...

This Monday, Chopt will open the doors to its new location at 51 Astor Place and give away free salads and salad wraps to all customers in exchange for any donation to their charitable partner Wellness in Schools, a non-profit that promotes healthy eating and environmental awareness to kids in public schools across the US. Hours: 11am - 1:30pm, 6pm - 8:30pm.

And here's a look at the Chopt space...





Meanwhile! As for the other new businesses at No. 51 here in MiSo... Bluestone Lane Coffee is setting up shop next to Chopt ...



Looks as if they have a ways to go before opening...



And the Flywheel Sports looks to be going in right behind the plywood on the southeasterly facing side of the building...



According to Well + Good, the incoming Flywheel will feature a stadium-seating studio with more than 70 bikes. Plus! "[I]t will be the first to introduce a new, instructor-controlled LED lighting system."

Hope that doesn't disturb Watson, deep in thought upstairs.

Updated 5 p.m.

EVG reader Brian Polay shared this photo... showing that folks were lining up for the salad deal today...



Previously on EV Grieve:
3 retail spaces available at 51 Astor Place (22 comments)

You can finally shop at 51 Astor Place!

3 new retail tenants for 51 Astor Place: Bluestone Lane Coffee, Chop’t and Flywheel Sports

Chopping soon signage up at the Death Star

Here's the Bluestone Lane Coffee signage at 51 Astor Place

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Mid-town south may not have enough office workers to keep either of these places open for long. I wonder which business will open in this space next?

Anonymous said...

I walked by Saturday. They were offering free salad. I didn't go in but the tables were packed with people taking them up on the offer.

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

Note anonymous commenter at 9:38 AM:

"I am fairly certain that Astor and Broadway are not considered to be within our boundaries or even generically considered as Midtown South." - John Mudd, president of the Midtown South Community Council

http://evgrieve.com/2013/06/report-maps-show-that-midtown-south.html

Anonymous said...

I wish these places would support local NYC charities like the Bowery Mussion, the Yorkville Commin Pantry, etc. Something in the neighborhood that actually helps people. Paying the salaries of folks at some nonprofit isnt my idea if charity. Help real people in the area.

Anonymous said...

Now there are two Chop'T between my apt @ 5th St & 3rd Ave and my office @ 17th St & Bway- along with 2 Duane Reade's, 2 Staples, 2 Walgreens, 2 Cafe Bene, 2 Starbucks, 2 Basics Plus...and too many others to mention.

Chop'T on 17th looks always busy, with lines out the door in the summer, blocking the sidewalk. They seem to be built deliberately with too little seating for their volume of sales, making it look busier than it is and thereby attracting even more customers. The Astor Place venue is well placed for their spill off to populate the new plaza. Why offer seating when the city will pay for it? Same for garbage removal.

Anonymous said...

Another healthy food place is a good addition. I wish them luck.

- East Villager

Anonymous said...

Eating just salad isn't exactly healthy.

NyBabyMind said...

The line was out the door but it moved quickly. Hibiscus tea is great!

Michael Ivan said...

Chopp'd are ridiculous, $14 for a salad and a lemonade under fluorescent lights amidst a line of lemmings pleased with themselves they're eating healthy. Also, what's so bad about salad ingredients that they need to be ground up with large chopping blades into minuscule flecks?

Gojira said...

Salad lemmings!

Brian said...

I will never enter the Death Star. That building killed the architectural soul of the East Village and Downtown in general. You are making a deal with the devil if you go there.

chris flash said...

WHY keep this shit hole in business when you can get EXCELLENT healthy food at EVA's, a REAL New York City community-based business (since 1978), just a few blocks west on 8th Street (on the north side of the block between Fifth Avenue + McDougal)?

I'm enjoying a wonderful HUGE falafel with hummus in a whole wheat pita stuffed with lettuce, tomato + cucumber (only $7.25) right now.

Remember folks: A dollar is a vote. YOU decide who stays in business by where you spend your money....

Anonymous said...

Yes, but you will have to chew it and taste it. Chopt saves you all that extra work- and only charges you almost twice as much for the convenience.

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna say it and sure to bring on a war:

Salas is the worst healthy food and total shit. No taste. You have to put stuff on it to give it taste and not even as it's just tasting what you put on it and having to stomach the nontaste of the salad in between bites of the topping and tastes of the dressing. Yes it fills you up but it's worthless nutritionally.

Eat asparagus, spinach, kale, string beans, peas, broccoli, and celery - all the greens you need.

Anonymous said...

So in other words, 12:11 … eat salad? Watch out, we got a badass over here.

This thread is weird. I know people are weary of chains, but a chain in an office building like Death Star makes some sort of sense. Also, I have never seen Chopt's line on 17th "block the sidewalk" (Sweetgreen on 18th yes, Chop't no) nor have I paid $14 for a salad -- WTF are you getting on your salad? I get a Mexican Caesar with all kale and extra jalepenos from 17th Chop't about once a week and it is $8 and it is huge. And the kids working there are lovely. And 17th Street is chainy, yeah, with Liquiteria and Pret a Manger and Hale N' Hearty blah blah, but that battle was lost long ago, and office people need lunch. I'm grateful to be employed and I like fucking salad. If the chains bother you on 17th, go to Lillie's, or Udo, or the farmer's market, or Republic, or RAINBOW FALAFEL. Or you know, keep bitching, that works too.