Vintage shop shuttering on Third Avenue

The Judith Schwartz Vintage shop here on Third Avenue next to East Village Cheese...



... as the sign shows...



Don't know anything about this shop. Was she part of the Laila Rowe family? Wasn't open for very long...

Makeup Mania shutters on Allen Street

EV Grieve reader Heather passes along word that Makeup Mania, a sliver of a storefront on Allen just south of Houston, has closed rather suddenly. As she notes, "I swear the place was full and a lady was getting a makeover not more than a few days ago."

Another First Street shop shutters

Mirari, a costum-made jewelery shop at 70 E. First St. near First Avenue is going out of business...



...joining Alpana Bawa next door in closing...

East Village vintage store shutterings continue: Andy's Chee-Pees on St. Mark's Place is closing

Just one week after the Post's trends piece on East Village thrift stores hurting...Andy's Chee-Pees on St. Mark's Place and Second Avenue is closing this location...And after the sidewalk shed was finally removed from this corner last Wednesday.



...they have another store on Eight Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. Andy's was established in 1977. (And I remember that the store used to be on the other side of St. Mark's Place, closer to Trash and Vaudeville...)



Hard to believe a store like this can't make it on St. Mark's Place. Of course, the pricey Theatre Condos are upstairs...and the developer has been advertising commerical space for lease...

Update: Walked by tonight, and the store was cleared out...

So let's take a quick tally of some of the neighborhood's unique vintagey stores that have closed of late:

Love Saves the Day
Howdy Do
99X

Spa games on 13th Street

On 13th Street between Second Avenue and Third Avenue....

First, this spa on the north side of the street lost their lease....



...and they're moving up the street where Upland Trading used to be.



I bring this up because... at first glance, the renovations at Upland Trading had a bar/cafe vibe. But a worker at the site assured me it was just the spa moving up the street.

Two more EV store closings

Gomi, the vegan/green boutique on Sixth Street near Avenue A, is closing.




And after 14 years of selling khakis and outerwear and stuff, Upland Trading on 13th Street between Third Avenue and Second Avenue is up for grabs.

Another T-shirt place for St. Mark's Place?

A fairly credible person tells me the former Village X shop at 36 St. Mark's Place will become another T-shirt shop. Anyone want to say "at least it's not a ramen place or froyo?"

Village X closes on St. Mark's Place: Tourists will need to find new store to buy "Take Me Drunk I’m Home" T-shirts

Village X at 36 St. Mark's Place has closed...



One of those store with band T-shirts, thumb rings, water pipes, etc. Big with the kids and tourists. But you knew that. (And how long was this here? I can't remember...)




The store was one of three along here busted for selling fake Baby Phat bling a few years back.

With an empty storefront, could this possibly mean another ramen or FroYo joint on the block?

Shocker: A Rite Aid is closing

Whoa. This is an unusual site. On Seventh Avenue just below 14th Street. I'm used to seeing, "Coming soon: Rite Aid/Duane Reade/Etc."



Given the sale, I thought I'd check it out... get a few basics (toothpaste, etc.) on the cheap. Maybe some kitsch? Well. Picked over isn't quite the right phrase. It was as if I was transported to the Warehouse of Shit No One Would Ever Buy at Rite Aid's Camp Hill, Pa., home office.

Like what, you ask?












I didn't buy anything. I asked the cashier why the store was closing, likely the 10,000th time that he had been asked this question this past weekend. "Business decision." Hmm.

Meanwhile, the Duane Reade down the block is already cherry-picking Rite Aid's old customers. (Never mind that there's a Rite Aid on Sixth Avenue and 13th Street...and Ninth Avenue and 22nd and Eighth Avenue and 24th and...)

Balducci's bows out

From the Post:

Balducci's, the storied high-end grocery chain that first opened in Greenwich Village 63 years ago, is closing its two Manhattan locations at the end of the month.

Balducci's is probably best remembered by New Yorkers for its store on Sixth Avenue in Greenwich Village, which operated from 1972 to 2003.

After the Greenwich Village store shuttered, Balducci's only Manhattan location for a while was on West 66th Street near Lincoln Center.

That store will close, as will what is now Balducci's Manhattan flagship, a 17,000-square-foot store that opened in 2005 in a former bank at Eighth Avenue and 14th Street in Chelsea.

Be sure to check out the reader comments!

Comings and goings: Third Avenue and Ninth Street

East Village Photo at 35 Third Avenue recently lost their lease and moved...



The store is empty...save, curiously enough, for the rack of NYC postcards.



So this means the corner store on Third Avenue and Ninth Street in the building that houses NYU's Alumni Hall dormitory is available...FroYo anyone? (Just guessing -- seems reasonable, eh?)

Also, we noted a few weeks back that M Sonii, the vintage-y, knicknack-y store at 220 E. Ninth St. near Third Avenue, was closing...appears now they have found a new location...just a few blocks away...



According to a commenter, the Sonii space is owned by the people who run the parking garage next door...and they were looking for a hefty rent increase.

An East Ninth Street vintage shop is closing

M Sonii, the vintage-y, knicknack-y store at 220 E. Ninth St. near Third Avenue that featured local designers...


is closing...



In 2000, The Village Voice named M Sonii the best accessory store.