The East Village continues to lose retail diversity

More small businesses continue to close...



City Copies on Seventh Street between Second Avenue and First Avenue closed about one week ago. An EV Grieve reader noted the friendly owner. "I'd go in and he'd call me 'friend.' He knew what I needed." According to the reader, the owner could no longer pay the rent and the high taxes.

And this is an awfully big space...likely destined to become some kind of specialty food joint to fit alongside the other eateries down on Seventh Street...



The barbershop at 150 E. Second St. near Avenue A is gone... (This shares the address with Nicky's, which will move...)



And Village Fabrics on First Avenue and 11th Street is on the way out... there's a "for rent" sign above the store now...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Of the 147 storefronts on Avenue A, 70 of them are bars, restaurants or vacant

Cafe Colonial says goodbye

BoweryBoogie brought the sad news that Cafe Colonial on Houston at Elizabeth was closing for good last evening... I stopped by just after 6 p.m. to see what was what... Cafe Colonial owner Luciane Gilan left a message behind on the mural...



...while the inside was already cleared out...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Cafe Colonial owner says Pulino's opening helped triple her rent

Future of 276 Elizabeth apparently doesn't include the Cafe Colonial

Kathy's Jewelry is moving on First Avenue

A reader passed along word that Kathy's Jewelry was closing on First Avenue near 14th Street... Her shop sits next to the long-shuttered David's Bagels....



However, the store is merely moving down First Avenue a few storefronts... the Tats Cru-painted gate likely won't make the trip, though.



Previously on EV Grieve:
David's Bagel space becoming a Mexican restaurant

Agnes and Eva's Cafe now a barber shop

In March, Agnes & Eva's Cafe closed on 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue.... I walked by last night and noticed the "for lease" sign was down... and a barber shop was now in business in the space...

Mikey's Pet Shop for rent

Last fall, we covered the saga of Mikey's Pet Shop on Seventh Street near Avenue A... the shop eventually closed...



At the time, some readers and Mikey's patrons passed along several tidbits....one reader said that she was told a nail salon is already in place to take over the store... and that Mikey's had to close because the landlord was reportedly raising the rent to $20,000 a month.

A "for rent" sign is now out front....



According to the listing:

Approx 600 SF

$4,500/month

Available Immediately

Available for any use as per Zoning

So no nail salon — yet. It will cost a bundle to turn this place into any kind of eatery...but that's my guess now...something to complement Butter Lane, Porchetta and The Bourgeois Pig on this stretch of Seventh Street between First Avenue and Avenue A....

Previously on EV Grieve:
Mikey's Pet Shop closing at the end of the month

Cafe Colonial owner says Pulino's opening helped triple her rent

In our post yesterday on the Cafe Colonial possibly closing, we wondered if the eatery on Houston and Elizabeth would be the first victim of the McNallification of the neighborhood...

Late yesterday afternoon, Daniel Maurer at Grub Street spoke to Cafe Colonial owner Luciane Gilan, who believes her rent tripled thanks in part to new neighbor Keith McNally, and she may just retire when her lease expires May 31.

The landlord now wants $20,000 a month for the 30-seat restaurant that has been there for 15 years.

Here's more from Grub Street's interview:

"I know people who know [the landlord] and they told me what's going on. He said, 'McNally is opening a place and he wants to bring people over and we might get a high-end boutique.'" So does she resent her new neighbor? "I think that he is genuinely a good restaurateur and he does good — the problem is that the landlords think, Oh, because he's a good guy he's going to bring a lot of customers around. So people get greedy and make rents go up. I don't think we, as people who live here, gain anything by having these kinds of things here. Because you know what, who's going to shop in a high-end boutique? I can't and any local people can’t."

Future of 276 Elizabeth apparently doesn't include the Cafe Colonial

For lease signs have gone up on the southeast corner of Houston and Elizabeth above the cozy Cafe Colonial, which opened here in 1994.



Based on the listing, it appears the future of this corner is destined to become high-end retail ... the rendering of the rebranded corner -- 73 East Houston Street -- shows lots of shopping bags and some thighs and calves...



The listing mentions all the new and fancy things that the New Era of the Bowery has to offer:

NEIGHBORS: Whole Foods, DBGB, John Varvatos, Vince, Tory Burch, Calypso, Blue & Cream and the New Museum

COMMENTS:
• On the same block as the new Keith McNally’s - Pulino’s Bar & Pizzeria Restaurant
• One block from Whole Foods
• Dense residential, seven day a week market
• Fantastic corner exposure

Is Cafe Colonial then the first victim in the McNallification of the neighborhood? It wasn't that long ago where Leonardo DiCaprio could be spotted here for brunch...

Former Agnes and Eva's Cafe space for rent

After reporting last week that Agnes and Eva's Cafe had closed on 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue, we heard that the owners were hoping to move to a new location...



According to a commenter: "There is/was a sign on the window indicating that they intend to reopen in a few months time 'somewhere else in the neighborhood.' I believe it stated outright that a rent increase was behind the (hopefully temporary) closure."

When we passed by the other day, there was no note indicating a possible move...and a new "for rent sign."



Previously on EV Grieve:
Agnes and Eva closes on 13th Street

Agnes and Eva closes on 13th Street

A reader notes that Agnes and Eva's Cafe on 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue has closed. Per the reader: "it was this nice cafe owned/operated by a mom & daughter, you go downstairs to this lil room blissfully away from the usual manh bustle... free wifi, decent brunch foods, no attitude, jazz music playing on stereo, not crowded... i'm so sad, hard to find a non-crowded cafe in the e. village." The Cafe opened last summer. Had always intended to go there, but never did. Seemed like a homespun haven away from the Momofuku madness across the way...

Photo via Serious Eats.

Small shops continue to struggle

We noticed that small shops were either closed or on their way out on Avenue B near 12th Street...



...First Street near First Avenue...



...and Avenue C near Sixth Street...

East Hardware now closed

In December, signs went up at East Hardware at 79 Third Avenue near 11th Street saying that the store is moving from its ground floor space in the Third North NYU dorm...



When I asked where they were moving, I received a blank look. Pause. "We're not. We're just leaving this location." The store is now closed, and there are no signs indicating a new location....



East Hardware joins the Mid-Atlantic Newsstand at Third Avenue and NYU has former tenants....

East Hardware closing

The signs at East Hardware at 79 Third Avenue near 11th Street say that the store is moving from its ground floor space in the Third North NYU dorm...




When I asked where they were moving, I received a blank look. Pause. "We're not. We're just leaving this location." Rent hike. I said that I was sorry to hear this. I was met with a shrug of the shoulders. "That's life."

Yes, especially here.

A quick look inside the former Olivio's

Olivio's, the homey part gaming/part yarn shop at 55 Avenue C closed after 36 years this past July. While there was a modest rent increase, the father-son operation just couldn't make a go of it here anymore between Third Street and Fourth Street.

I got a quick look inside the other evening...Someone was doing some repairs on the floor, though it didn't seem as if another tenant was coming to this space anytime soon.

Ugh: Bazzini — "final holdout of Tribeca's past" — to become fancy eatery

Downtown Express has the bad news:

In the latest example of “new Tribeca” beating out “old Tribeca,” the Bazzini grocery, cafe and nut shop on Greenwich St. will soon become a Sarabeth’s restaurant.

This won’t be the first time that a neighborhood fixture in Tribeca becomes a chichi food destination — but it could be one of the last, as some see Bazzini as the final holdout of Tribeca’s past.

Bazzini opened 119 years ago. The current owners said the new Whole Foods down the street was cutting into their business.

The Tribeca Tribune had the story earlier this week. And apologies to Eater: I missed their piece on this news last week. The story is here.

Mikey's lives (for just a little while longer)

So, three weeks ago, we said goodbye to Mikey's Pet Shop on Seventh Street near Avenue A. Landlord jacking up the rent to $20,000, etc. We heard it ourselves from Mikey. And when we went by later, the canopy was ripped down, etc.

Well! Maybe that $20,000-per-month nail salon deal fell through... As a Mikey's customer/EV Grieve reader reports, the store is back open...While basically stripped inside, several items remain for sale... According to the reader, the landlord gave Mikey one more month...

Which may explain the eviction notices dated for Oct. 31...




Previously.

Memories of daily life in now-empty storefronts

You may have seen the little signs taped to a few empty storefronts along 14th Street between Avenue B and First Avenue. It's the work of local artist Nicholas Fraser. I sent him a note asking for some background on the signs.




His response:

"The flyer/cards are my first stab at trying to collect memories people might have of their day-to-day encounters with now empty businesses along 14th Street. I will then re-frame these memories and create a series of ephemeral text drawings placed in front of unoccupied commercial spaces. The texts combine these donated stories and daily observations, evoking past and present moments of daily life at the transitional sites. Laid out in ash and other impermanent materials, each work disintegrates and disappears quickly under the rush of ongoing urban life, echoing the temporal and transitory nature of the moments documented."

This will be part of the Art in Odd Places festival that will feature performance/installations/etc. along 14th Street. You can see some earlier versions of this idea on his Web site.



He has since made larger fliers with more open-ended questions. As he says, it's not important that the memory be from a particular location -- only that it involves a now-closed store somewhere. (Certainly plenty to choose from.) "The limitation to 14th Street is somewhat arbitrary," he says. "Memories from any place in the city really are just as pertinent."

You may send your memories/anecdotes to stories@NicholasFraser.com

Mikey's Pet Shop to become a nail salon?

Several readers have passed along updates on Mikey's Pet Shop on Seventh Street near Avenue A...the store will likely be open until the end of this week...and, despite the moving signs on the sidewalk out front, they don't have a new store just yet...



Another reader said that she was told a nail salon is already in place to take over the store. Mikey's had to close up because the landlord was reportedly raising the rent to $20,000 a month. And a nail salon will be able to afford that...?

And with a new tenant, I imagine we'll be losing Chico's mural...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Mikey's Pet Shop closing at the end of the month

Mikey's Pet Shop closing at the end of the month

A reader passes along some sad news: Mikey's Pet Shop on Seventh Street near Avenue A is closing at the end of the month. According to the reader: The landlord raised rent to $20K a month.

The reader ended the note with a "sigh."

I'll add a double sigh.

As you'll remember, Pretty Boy — the Mayor of Seventh Street — wandered into Mikey's one day back in 1988...

Last day for Olivo's

Thanks to Melanie, who informs me that today is the last day for Olivo's at 55 Avenue C near Fourth Street.



The homey and unusual little shop (part gaming, part yarn!) has been here for 36 years, and is a father-son operation.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Olivo's on Avenue C.

Olivo's on Avenue C

Been meaning to do a post on Olivo's Fashions, a homey and unusual little shop at 55 Avenue C near Fourth Street. It has been here for 36 years, and is a father-son operation. Part of the store is devoted to yarn and fabrics and other things sewing related.

In 2007, though, the store started to be more known as a serious place for video games. In fact, just last Tuesday, Crispy Gamer did a feature on the place titled, "World's Greatest Independent Game Stores: Olivo's Games Depot."

As the second deck of the headline reads, "Welcome to pretty much the only place on earth where you can buy skeins of yarn, adult diapers and a still-shrinkwrapped copy of Rez ($99.99)."

True.

Here's an excerpt from the article, which nicely captures the vibe of Olivo's:

The store is one of those rare, old-time New York places that are almost impossible to find these days. Two-thirds of the store is devoted to yarn, knitting, mannequins, candles, homemade lollipops, porcelain hands designed to hold your rings, and blouses. It's like a thousand five-and-dime stores crammed into 600 square feet. The remaining third -- the front corner of the store -- is devoted to videogames.

And now I buried my lead...I was dismayed to walk by Saturday to see the following...




The elder Mr. Olivo, I believe, was hanging garmets outside on Saturday morning. He said they were closing and had to have everything out of the store. There seemed to be a sense of urgency to this. I went back yesterday to take some photos of the interior and, I hoped, to talk with one of the Olivos. Unfortunately, the gates were down. I'm afraid I'm too late.