Despite economic downturn in city, expect four more American Apparel stores

In a piece titled "City Feels the Economic Pinch, but It’s Only a Pinch, So Far" in the Times today, Kathryn S. Wylde, chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, described the City's current economic climate: “[I]t’s not a crash like the Great Depression. It is a gradual letting the air out of the balloon, an economy that is deflating. And that could be a process that’s 2 years or 10 years for New York.”

Meanwhile, as the article notes, some businesses are hurting while some chains are continuing with plans to open more stores.

Take the case of American Apparel . . . It has opened two stores in New York City in 2008 and plans to open four more before year end, according to Adrian Kowalewski, the company’s director of corporate finance and development.

“We haven’t seen anything but an increase in our business, despite the slowdown in the overall economy,” Mr. Kowalewski said. “Many of our customers are young, urban dwellers, and so are not as exposed directly to increases in fuel prices or the meltdown in the housing market."

And we're off! (on 350 W. Broadway)

Was in Soho the other day. So I took a peak to see how the soon-to-be-swank digs are doing at 350 W. Broadway. We have beams!

Meanwhile, check out the faboo penthouse: 2,902 square feet with 1,381 square feet exterior. Priced at $12.2 million. And the accompanying marketing copy?

“I’ll tell you why I need to live in Manhattan,” he trilled while thrusting his martini shaker into the air. “An Englishman must live on an island!”

“I’ll tell you why I need to live in a penthouse,” she replied with her
signature deadpan. “I’m only happy when I’m on top.”

“And the reason you live with me?” he asked while refilling her
glass. “You own the penthouse.”

Not sure if this is supposed to be funny. And on the street level...

The East Village loses another mom-and-pop shop

Jill at Blah Blog Blah laments the closing of David's Bagels on First Avenue. She writes that this is "a serious loss for the East Village, a neighborhood formerly crawling with places to get fresh bagels. No more. Now we will have to either go very far to find a fresh bagel, or buy them from the heinous Hot & Crusty, which is more crusty and less hot." (The Hot & Crusty chain store was conveniently placed right next door to David's.) As Jeremiah has noted, we should get ready to say goodbye to this stretch of First Avenue.



[Photos by Jill at Blah Blog Blah]

Got a minute for "the Most Annoying People in Lower Manhattan?"

The Voice has the story on "the Most Annoying People in Lower Manhattan": the college-age canvasser. (Subhead: "The young bleeding-heart carnivores who hunt you down on your lunch hour."

"Hi-my-name-is-Garth-and-I'm-from-Children-International-and-we're-trying-to-help-children-in-poverty. Children-in-abject-poverty. There-are-kids-dying-every-day- because-they-don't-have-something-as-silly-as-food-and-water. I-mean-even-a-bum-in-New-York-can-have-two-meals-a-day!"

Despite the fact that his breathless spiel is all monologue, Garth's job title is "dialoguer." It's a term coined by an Austrian company known as the Dialogue Group, which helped to develop this brand of street confrontation and brought it to U.S. cities a few years ago with a subsidiary called Dialogue Direct.

Garth pauses to catch his breath and then whips out a laminated picture of his own sponsored child, an innocent-looking boy sitting in a hut thatched with palm fronds. The location, he says, is the Dominican Republic. He checks to see whether he still has the attention of the woman in front of him. He does, but then realizes he's talking to a reporter.

"Children are dying and you're wasting my time!" he says, scowling. Mramor drops the laminated photograph back into his duffel bag. He doesn't apologize for seeming rude. "Being nice doesn't work," says the irritated college student. "I signed up two people today by being an asshole, and I'll continue to do that. Have a nice day."

[Voice photo by Andy Kropa]

Balls 2: The Revenge

On Lafayette near Broadway.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Balls

An unfortunate typo in the Post

Allow me to veer off topic for a moment. From the online version of the Post today:



Bristol Pain?

Coming soon to 282 Bowery . . .

Grub Street reports: Keith McNally has officially signed the lease on 282 Bowery.

No pressure or anything

City businesses stand to miss out on making $141 million this fall if the Yankees fail to make the playoffs for the first time in 13 years, according to a study commissioned by the Post. The report conducted by NYU adjunct professor John Tepper Marlin shows that if the Yankees snag at least a wild-card berth, a first-round appearance could fill the coffers of bars, restaurants and other businesses across the city with $26 million. [New York Post]

Two Boots Video lives

Given the high rents in the neighborhood...and the fact that no one seems to go to a store to rent DVDs these days...here's some postive news. The folks at Two Boots Video are remodeling and consolidating their space on Avenue A. They'll be squeezing everything into the southern part of their stronghold on Avenue A and Third Street. There's more information on the Two Boots Video site...Such as! The space will now be called the Two Boots Video Nook. (Sure, "nook" doesn't conjure up images of massive selection, but I'll take it.)

Staying put on East Third Street

Residents at 176 E. Third Street have been offered up to $125,000 apiece to move out of their rent-stabilized apartments. They declined. As the Post notes:

The residents charge that the buyout bid by Icon Realty Management, owned by Terrence Lowenberg and Todd Cohen, would destroy the building's sense of community.
"They offered me $120,000," said Carolyn Chamberlain, 65, a secretary who pays $400 for her two-bedroom apartment in the six-story, prewar building.
"I told them I would only be interested if it was middle-six-figure offer. It's outright harassment," she said.
Alexander Camu, a bartender, said he turned down a $125,000 offer.
"I moved here when the neighborhood was crap," he said. "I turned down the offer because I'm being paid to leave my life."

Bob Arihood has been covering this story at Neither More Nor Less. Read his coverage here.

Ninth Street Espresso opening on 10th Street today

Next to Life Cafe. (Meanwhile, the flagship Ninth Street Espresso on Ninth Street between Avenue C and Avenue D will be closed all this week.)



Previously on EV Grieve:
Ninth Street Espresso coming to 10th Street

Celebrities are just like us! (Dive bar edition) (aka: OMG! It's Keanu!)

According to this week's Page Six Magazine, "stars are forgoing getting trashed at clubs —- and seeking a far trashier scene." Like bars WE like to go to! And so the magazine features six such places where you don't have to pay $12 for a bottle of beer: "Pull up a stool to New York’s greatest, and grubbiest, dive bars." (Their words, not mine.)

Here's their report on Joe's on East Sixth Street:

Alphabet City Dive-y-est Element: Gunk-covered floor and bathrooms tinier than airplane stalls — all presided over by the toothless but friendly day-shift bartender, Tommy.

Celebrity Customers: While the former speakeasy hasn’t changed — or perhaps been mopped — since owners Joe and Dot (who refuse to give their last names) took over in the ’60s, stars have made Joe’s their dirty little secret. “Drew Barrymore comes here and so does Matt Dillion,” reports barfly Magda. “Keanu Reeves was just in last month, playing pool,” she adds. “Celebs are sick of getting their covers blown and want a taste of reality,” says Tracy Westmoreland, owner of legendary but now-closed dive Siberia. That “shipwrecks” like Joe’s are more popular than ever signals “the new golden age for dive bars,” he adds.