Timbuk2 now open on Lafayette

On Saturday, the San Francisco-based Timbuk2 opened its first two East Coast retail shops ... in Williamsburg and at 325 Lafayette St. between Bleecker and Houston.

Per their website, "Timbuk2 is a designer and manufacturer of Made in San Francisco custom and ready-made bags and accessories. Our cycling roots and love of all things urban inform our design decisions to make products that work hard for you."

The media advisory about the store opening notes that the store will also have a "complimentary bike share program."

Rose&Basil opens tomorrow (Sunday!) on East 7th Street

An EVG reader shared this photo, noting that Rose&Basil opens tomorrow at 104 E. Seventh St. between Avenue A and First Avenue.

Per the small shop's website:

Rose&Basil offers a variety of products such as exquisite Chocolate Truffles, all-you-need in a Breakfast Jar and a carefully selected variety of coffee. All our products are 100% gluten free, organic and have no added sugars...

Listed hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Previously.

If you are looking for Smoke & Beer on Avenue A, then this store is for you

Do you remember back in December, when we reported that the former nail salon on Avenue A between East 13th Street and East 14th Street was going to become a smoke shop?

Well, anyway, that smoke shop is now open... Correction! Make that Smoke & Beer shop...



As you can see on the marquee, the shop sells E-cigarette, Cigar, Tobacco, Craft Beer, Cigarette and Lotto.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Smoke shop, the new nail salon, opening in former nail salon on Avenue A

Coming and going on 3rd Avenue

OK, let's see … as noted back in July, a GNC is taking over the former East Hardware space at 79 Third Ave. The GNC sign arrived a few weeks ago. More recently, the signage went up next door at East 11th Street for Heavenly Market & Deli.

And in other NYU dorm storefront news … Citi Habitats moved out of 37 Third Ave. maybe at the end of June (don't think we ever noted it…) … the space remains on the market for an undisclosed sum. (The listing notes no bars or businesses to compete with its neighbors, like Subway and Saint's Alp Teahouse.) And next door at East Ninth Street, the brown paper now covers the gutted Birdbath Neighborhood Green Bakery space.

[Updated] Something new for tinkerers on East Fifth Street

Goggla passes along word of a new store that has opened on East Fifth Street just east of Second Avenue...

We don't know anything about Tinkersphere other than what is on its website:

Tinkersphere Corp. is a high-end retailer specializing in robotics, DIY electronics and toys. All products are hand-selected to ensure the utmost in quality. Based in New York City, Tinkersphere is proud to serve tinkerers of every age and skill level.

The previous tenant here, the specialty records shop Tropicalia in Furs, closed in January.

Updated:
The folks at Tinkersphere passed along some more info to us...

Tinkersphere officially opened on July 1 at 304 East 5th Street in the East Village. The president, an engineer herself, opened this store to help serve the growing community of tinkerers and makers in New York City. Tinkersphere hopes to inspire, educate and empower tinkerers of all ages by providing a range of toys, crafts, robot kits, and hobby electronic kits for all skill levels. Tinkersphere is preparing little tinkerers for the digital age we live in while giving grown tinkerers a place to entertain their hobbies and gain new ones.

Updated 7-11
Serena Solomon at DNAinfo has a feature on the store here.

Some convenience for Third Avenue shops

There has been some turnover in the strip along Third Avenue that is home to East Village Cheese ... and once housed Atlas Barber School... there's a new business in store for the former optical shop/dry cleaners next door to the cheese shop...

... the signs point to a convenience store; a worker on the scene confirmed it...

Previously.

Cool Gear of some sort for Second Avenue

Something called Cool Gear is opening on Second Avenue near Fourth Street... it replaces the dry cleaners that closed in, what, late spring? Early summer? The awning went up last week... and no one is ever around the store when we walk by. So no word yet just what kind of Cool Gear this will be.

And now, another place to shop for tattoos and tobacco accessories on St. Mark's Place

Speaking of new businesses on St. Mark's Place ... there's a new tattoo-tobacco accessories-piecing shop called NYC Kulture opening in the St. Mark's Strip Mall that also houses Chipotle and Supercuts...

So... better than another $1 pizza place or froyo?

Previously, the space was home to the short-lived St. Mark's Cafe...

...and before that, Red Mango and the CBGB shop...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Another victim claimed in the relentless East Village FroYo wars

Tourists will have to go online to buy their CBGB T-shirts

Pork pie hats for East Ninth Street

Meanwhile, a little east of Argosy on Ninth Street, a shop called Pork Pie Hatters is coming soon...

Jellyfish invasion on 13th Street

A store called Jellyfish New York is opening on 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue...



...based on the sign, I'd say (duh!) that it's some kind of clothing shop for kids... another sign said that the store was opening in August

Hope that AT&T's "more bars" campaign won't be used here

EV Grieve reader Michael Fivis notes the progress of the incoming AT&T store next to Lulu's Nail Salon on First Avenue and St. Mark's Place...

A new shopowner with a sense of humor on First Street

A few weeks back Jeremiah noted the sign on 70 E. First St. for a new business coming called Robot Daycare... As the sign said: "From Japan. "Always on time! Never inappropriate!" We were all a little suspicious of this...

Now there's new sign on the door, something for a store called The Missing Sock -- coming soon from Australia!

The store will feature "the world's largest collection of united socks collected from laundromats spanning the globe."

Heh. This ought to keep those snoopy bloggers scratching their heads over what's really coming here!

Previously on EV Grieve:
Another First Street shop shutters

Used book store opening on Avenue A

Shockers! An EV Grieve operative reports that a used book store is opening at the former Etherea Records space on Avenue A between Fifth Street and Fourth Street... A crew was working on the space this past weekend... opening date expected around May 1...



Wow. A used book store and a fishmonger opening soon on Avenue A...? I'll be passing out in the corner now for a few minutes.

New thrift store on Third Street to open next week

Last week I mentioned that the former Dance Tracks on Third Street near First Avenue is becoming a thrift/vintage store... Last night, I noticed that workers were filling the stores with clothes...






All I know is the shop is expected to open next week... the following week at the latest...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Long dormant Dance Tracks soon to be home to a vintage clothing store

Long dormant Dance Tracks soon to be home to a vintage clothing store

Looks as if the former Dance Tracks, which closed in November 2007, finally has a new tenant here on Third Street near First Avenue.



Here's what a source tells us:

-- This will become a vintage clothing store that buys and sells, kind of like Buffalo Exchange.

-- That the woman who owns the store also has other locations, kind of like Buffalo Exchange.

The source thought this could be part of a vintage store chain.

In any event, a worker was renovating the space the other night... and there are clothing racks brought in...





Last we looked, the rent here was $9,500 a month... and at one point, as East Village Podcasts pointed out, a wine store was opening here.

[Top photo via EVP]

High-end-looking furniture shop for Avenue A and Third Street

Just last night we noticed that a new high-end-looking furniture shop had opened in the last few days on Avenue A at Third Street, the site of Sarah Jessica Parker's old favorite, MoMo FaLana ... don't know much else about this just yet...



A reader noted: "Looks like a home furnishing shop with lamps and tables -- and thrift store deer paintings?"

Seeing double at former Tasti-D-Lite spot

Signs are up at the former Tasti D-Lite on Second Avenue near Ninth Street...



..for something called New City Vision.



An optometrist perhaps? Or a real-estate company?

On the Mark on 13th Street

A new barber shop is ready to open on the south side of 13th Street near First Avenue...




...complete with an old-school barber pole...

Village Veterinarian coming to 11th Street

We now know at least one of the tenants in the new storefronts on 11th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue...




Figured we were due for the 7th or 8th vintage/consignment shop along here... (not that there's anything wrong with vintage/consignments shops...)

The Topshop truck as you've never seen it!

Without 150 undergrads huddled around trying to get free shit. Spotted on East 13th Street near Third Avenue. And why the grabby-grabby frenzy? What is this, 2006?