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[
EVG reader photo from Dec. 8]
Two weeks have passed, and there hasn't been
any sign of life inside East Village Cheese at 80 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. (See the previous posts
here and
here.)
The shop was last seen open on Dec. 7. And the gate has been down ever since, without any notice indicating a temporary or permanent closure. The telephone has been disconnected ... and worse, the power has been shut off inside the shop these past two weeks, neighbors say.
All this is particularly troubling to Julia Knox, who owns
East Village Hats next door.
"The smell of cheese is seeping into my hat shop, and I am looking for ideas for how to get the place emptied before it rots," she said. "My biggest concern is that the smell is going to be unbearable pretty soon, and a potential rat problem."
Here's a photo via EVG reader Jeremy Block looking inside the space from Dec. 14. That bread and cheese is still there...
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[
Via @jeremyblock]
As I understand it, the landlord (76-80 East 7th Street Limited Partnership) is aware of the situation, though apparently there are legal concerns about entering the storefront.
East Village Cheese moved here from Third Avenue in September 2015. By April 2016, regulars started worrying about the shop's
longterm financial health. "These guys never really got on their feet after the move," Knox said.
As previously noted, the place wasn't always a very patron-friendly shop on Seventh Street, with a cash-only policy and an early close that prevented way-home-from-work shopping, among other things ... including the lack of ambiance and suspect expiration dates, according to regulars.
Past news article on the shop list Lobsang Tsultrim and Thupten Tenphel, immigrants from Tibet, as the owners. They reportedly took over from its founder, Alvin Kaufman, in 2005.
Updated Dec. 22
NBC 4,
ABC 7 and
PIX 11 all picked up the story, though they didn't offer any new developments.