The Lower East Side Coffee Shop closed here after 13 years in February 2021. New Herbal World, which offered a variety of herbs, teas and tonics as well as acupuncture, moved to Lafayette Street in September 2019.
It was a tough time for all the businesses on this corner in recent years. For nearly three years this side of 14th Street was an active construction zone for L-train repairs and Avenue A entrance construction ... with a variety of trucks, drill rigs, pile drivers, compressors and generators.
Several businesses were forced to shut down due to severely limited access to their storefronts. Outside the now-shuttered Dion and the Coffee Shop, customer access included only 28 inches of sidewalk space — not big enough for a wheelchair in spots.
In any event, the arrival of for-rent signs might dispel the speculation that this corner is ripe for development (of course there may not be any air rights given the residential building called EVE next door at the former post office).