Friday, May 31, 2019

Nobletree Coffee abruptly shuts down on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place


[EVG photo]

After five-plus months in business, Nobletree Coffee abruptly closed yesterday on the northwest corner of Second Avenue and St. Mark's Place.

An EVG tipster told us that the move took staff by surprise yesterday morning — "not even shop manager was warned."

A sign on the door for Nobletree's "beloved customers" offers thanks ... along with a reason for the closure: "Because of the slow foot traffic at this location we were forced to close."


[Photo by Steven]

Slow foot traffic on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue?

This prime corner space will be back to vacant, as it was the previous three years — ever since DF Mavens closed in January 2016.

Before the Mavens, we had the cafe Eastside Bakery (.net?). And there was Roastown Coffee before that. And the Gap a long time ago.

Updated 7:30 a.m.

Nobletree brass forgot to cancel the pastry order...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Nobletree Coffee is the next tenant for 37 St. Mark's Place and 2nd Avenue

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Grand opening...grand closing.

Unknown said...

I tried them a few times. Coffee was overpriced and mediocre especially compared to other neighborhood options like 3rd Rail (similar prices, but exceedingly better service and product). With the Starbucks closing, they could have pivoted this place into a cozy sit-down & work location. Instead they blared loud music even at 8 am, and had no clear outlets / laptop seating. Unfortunate because the neighborhood could have benefited, but obviously management never cared enough to try.

Anonymous said...

The owners must have known this when they signed the lease and renovated the space. As I have said on many comment threads, owners simply cannot afford to keep a busines afloat unless they are indepdendently wealthy where they won't hurt or go bankrupt if they loose money on such a venture. This is the new normal. Maybe it just NYC or maybe it transcends to other major cities such as LA, SF, Seattle, and beyond. Empty storefronts with for lease signs in the windows is our reality.

Carol from E. 5th Street said...

The rent was probably $40K a month. That's a lot of coffee.

Anonymous said...

The EV, shuttin down like it's goin out of style

noble neolani said...

This space is cursed, anyone thinking about renting a space in the EV should do some research first. Hip, trendy, happening neighborhoods only work for those that got in early, it's too late for "more of the same" businesses. Sorry for the employees, hope you find work soon.

Giovanni said...

This corner is not as hot as these wannabe retailers think it is. The problem isn't slow foot traffic, its that everyone is in a hurry to blow by this corner. The walking traffic blows by quickly, either to go to a Japanese spot on the block, a head shop, or just to pass through to a more interesting destination. If this were a Japanese restaurant it might be able to justify the rent, but why bother when there are other midblock spaces opening up all the time for less rent? It’s so dead even the Crusties don't hang out on this corner.

As for Nobletree, apparently someone forgot to water it and it died on the vine. Every time I passed or stopped in there were limited seating options, and a couple of laptop warriors had permanently taken over the only decent table, leaving the uncomfortable counter and window seats. The employees were nice, and the place was clean since they had plenty of time on their hands to clean up, plus there were so few customers compared to a Starbucks or The Bean to make a mess.

Since DF Mavens was involved I’m not surprised they closed quickly and without giving employees any notice. Lets hope they walk away and don't try opening a shaved ice or Biscuit Shoppe.

Anonymous said...

How in the hell can anyone afford to pay rent on a cafe nowadays? Its obscene how much landlords charge. I don't get attached to businesses anymore. I just don't. I will probably get shit for this but Starbucks is better because they offer free Wifi, ample seating, and inexpensive refills on coffee. Those are what lure customers like me in. No matter how much I try to support local cafes in this hood, and Lord knows I have, many close in under a a year with a marshalls notice on the door. Only large retailers like Starbucks will win this battle. It is what it is.

Anonymous said...

Two area Starbucks have closed this year — the outposts on Broadway and 9th and 2nd Avenue and 9th. They aren’t doing much better

cmarrtyy said...

This is just another example of the arrogance of the retail world. All they think about is how to get money out of their customers without thinking about the customer -except for their money. Loud music all day?. No plugs? Uncomfortable seating? High prices? Bad coffee? They deserve what they get. Starbucks at Astor used to be a great hangout. Now it's like a bus terminal. They designed the space to be uncomfortable, limited the seating, shrunk the tables and the music is getting louder. It's called abuse of the customer. Starbucks gets away with it. Nobletree didn't. Good luck to future retail abusers. Vox populi! VOX POPULI.

NOTORIOUS said...

But how were the pastries?!

Anonymous said...

The only constant is change. Nowhere truer than at the NW corner of St Mark's and 2nd.

Anonymous said...

Let's face it - cafes don't make money when all of their seats are hogged by people sitting all day with their laptops which is what happened at Starbucks on 9th Street. Whenever I went in there for a coffee and wanted to sit for a few minutes there were no seats. Just the same old seat hogs there day after day. I'm sure Starbucks on Astor Place realized a "great hangout" just didn't make them money. Selling a lot of coffee does.

Giovanni said...

In addition to being a cursed corner, their pricing didn't help. Plus they didn't have a bathroom. The algorithm for this business model is High Prices + Cursed Corner x High Rent / No Bathroom = Business Failure in Less the 12 Months.

Several people on Yelp complained about drinks that cost almost $8! For eight bucks it better have either alcohol or CBD in it. This Yelp review and response from Nobletree management from late April sums up their “pricing philosophy” nicely. They were obviously struggling to pay the rent and found ways to jack up the prices.

Ryan
“Went here and a got a dirty iced chai with oat milk and it came out to $7.75. That seems a bit steep, especially for the neighborhood. It also wasn't super flavorful, but it was very strong. Nevertheless, this is a cute new spot in the neighborhood and the staff were very friendly.

4/29/2019 reply from Nobletree Management;
“Hey Ryan, thanks for the feedback. Let me break down the pricing for you: It's $5.00 for our Chai, which we brew in house with a Cacao Chai mix from our partners at In Pursuit of Tea and our own special blend of additional spices that we hand-grind. It's an additional $0.50 for ice, an additional $1.50 for an espresso shot, and an extra $0.75 for non-dairy milks. Hopefully this all makes sense.”

When you have to explain the breakdown of the price of a non-alcoholic beverage, you have a pricing problem. The only thing that makes sense is that they quickly went out of business.

Anonymous said...

It's really simple. If you have a shit ton of money to spare, then open a coffeehouse. If not, don't, especially on this corner. Problem solved.