Idlewild Coffee Co., 300 E. Fifth St. at Second Avenue, closed this past Friday after service — less than two months from opening day.
It was awful timing for the cafe. We first spotted signage for the shop in late February. The COVID-19 PAUSE arrived about one month later, forcing them to hold off on a grand opening.
Idlewild finally debuted on June 15 ... nearly two weeks after this block between First Avenue and Second Avenue went on lockdown on May 30 as the 9th Precinct, located mid-block, placed barricades and an array of officers at both ends of the street to protect the station house from the threat of protesters.
A note on the door for patrons points to the ongoing presence of the barricades as the main reason behind the coffee shop's quick closure...
The letter reads in part:
These are crazy times and there have been too many things completely out of our control that have affected business. The police barriers at the ends of the block which have greatly restricted foot traffic has probably been the biggest obstacle for the entirety of our opening, so hopefully for the sake of our more established neighboring businesses, the barriers will be completely removed at some point soon so that some sort of normalcy can return to the wonderful block.
Thank you so much for the warm welcome and all the positive feedback you've given us.
Last Thursday, a member of the Save Our Storefronts (SOS) coalition spoke with Idlewild owner John Harper, who said that he ran out of cash between the COVID-19 pandemic and the 9th Precinct's lockdown. He said 10 to 15 years of his savings went down the drain.
As far as we know, Idlewild didn't send out an opening announcement — other than an Instagram post. And we didn't know the shop had opened. Our previous attempts to walk on the block were rebuffed by officers on duty who said that only residents could access this stretch.
Here's a look at the barricades the other day...
The barricades are less restrictive than they were in June and early July... and pedestrians are now OK'd to access Fifth Street ...
Whose streets? Well, not our streets. @NYPD9Pct has swiped E. 5th St. from the public. Why? Who’s gonna stop them? @NYCMayor ? pic.twitter.com/4AkV7Yx2AB
— Streetsblog New York (@StreetsblogNYC) June 8, 2020
The NYPD has barricaded Precincts citywide, as Streetsblog ... Gothamist ... and West Side Rag have previously reported.
In an op-ed published in The Village Sun on July 15, Stuart Zamsky, who owns White Trash a few doors away from Idlewild, addressed the ongoing presence of the barricades.
[M]erchants and residents on these blocks are having a hard enough time trying to survive. We should not be interrogated in order to gain entry to our homes and places of business. If police have ongoing concerns about the safety of their station houses, couldn’t they limit the enclosures to the precinct buildings themselves?
In interviews (with CBS 2 for instance), the NYPD has repeatedly said that the streets around the station houses will reopen when there is no longer a threat. As the closure of Idlewild Coffee Co. shows, the barricades remain a threat to local businesses.
15 comments:
noooooooo!!! would have been thrilled to go had i known of its existence! wishing the owner the best!
How is this okay!? Where are our representatives???
The barricades were definitely a factor in this short-lived venture closing. However, Southern Cross coffee shop was a well-loved previous occupant and still couldn’t survive despite having a welcoming atmosphere, a good range of snacks and sweets not available elsewhere and plenty of seating. Idlewild had nothing to offer that wasn’t available at the four other coffee places within 4 blocks. Depending on foot traffic on this East/West block was never going to build a viable business. I don’t know why people pour their life savings into a dream when they haven’t done their due diligence.
And THIS is part of why people have issues with the NYPD: their punitive stance towards the public (whom they theoretically exist to SERVE).
Blockading the street and saying you have to prove you live there to get past is just bullshit designed to be a great big FU to the entire neighborhood and everyone here. OK, NYPD, we hear you loud & clear.
BTW, 9th Precinct, don't expect any donation from me for your "Christmas Party for Local Children" this year. I'm blockading my bank account from you, thanks to the ill-will you are going out of your way to generate.
Damn, I never go the chance to try this place!
Agreed, the barricades are absolutely ridiculous. As a resident of this block, I'm sick and tired of having to pass through them, and now they are just added garbage to the street, especially at the First Ave end. All the businesses on this block have suffered because the cops are so afraid of everyone, they have to lock themselves in a cage. The north side of the sidewalk is no longer passable, forcing people to walk in the street. What are they so afraid of?
Must be a record for opening and closing. I had walked past this place a few times but honestly, it didn't look like much.
This has been a problem all over the city. It's not clear what right the NYPD has to simply take over blocks for weeks on end; apparently, command just left individual precincts to do whatever they felt like, and you see the result. If I were a property owner on that block, I'd be considering whether to bring a takings case.
The police officers should have contributed in keeping this newly opened cafe afloat.
The least could have done!
I am a resident of this block and still had difficulty accessing my own building due to the tyrannic cops at the corners of the street. I am a nurse, was coming home from a night shift one morning and essentially harassed by the cops for walking through without giving enough of a "good morning" greeting to their liking. A cop then insisted on escorting me to my apartment to verify I lived there. I have no doubt these barricades prevented foot traffic from coming onto our block and hurt this and other small businesses on the street.
I feel bad he lost his business and his savings so fast but I agree with the poster above. Everyone liked Southern Cross but they did not make it. This block is just bad for that unless they can afford the corner space. Seemed really weird to open up another coffee shop when a beloved one just failed in that same spot. I wish him luck...I am scared for all small businesses in the area right now. Even the ones who have fully packed outdoor seating and seem like they are doing okay can shut down at any time. I never thought I would miss getting yelled at by the Indian restaurants on 1st ave.
This block has never been good for small shops like this, highly doubt the barricades were the issue. There's tons other places to get coffee. There's a coffee shop right up 5th between 2nd and 3rd,and one on 5th-6th on second Ave that are known. I feel bad for their business, but that's really due to competition, and convenience. You wouldn't know there was a coffee shop there unless you walked by, and even if you did, it was hard to notice.
Sure, people are correct about it being a tough biz environment for even popular coffee shops! But, the NYPD explicitly blocking foot traffic from the block is a death sentence to any new business- no matter how great it may be.
"an array of officers at both ends of the street to protect the station house from the threat of protesters."
why repeat the NYPD's lies? there is no threat. this is an occupying force
I see a lot of police station does this now out of the blue. Even the police station in Chinatown Manhattan has a barricade.
Never open as business or live on the sane block as a police station. Just like 9/11 and other emergencies, police will close the block down at the drop of a hat, and your business suffers. Don't expect politicians to help either. Police will also never patronize your business unless it's a cheap deli, and if they dislike you, work to ensure you close. There used to be as sandwich shop across from the 009 precinct on e21st st a few decades ago. They had good business. Coffee shops not so much. I loved southern cross, sad to see they had closed, and sad to heard ldylwild notake it. Police are not your friend, they are the enemy of the people serving their own ends.
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