Now playing

The former Sunshine Cinema on East Houston looking as if it has been closed for a lot longer than 16 days...

Previously on EV Grieve:
Discarded theater seats and goodbyes at the Sunshine Cinema

The 9-story boutique office building coming to the former Sunshine Cinema space

Bank branches everywhere no more

[File photo of the former Citi branch on Avenue A]

Last week we noted that the Santander branch at Avenue A and Fourth Street is closing on April 27. At that time, Avenue A will be bank-branch free.

Apparently the days where you could count on a bank branch opening in every recently vacated retail space are coming to an end. (How far we've come from 2014!)

The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) today looks at the trend of banks cutting back as more customers move online.

To the article...

The number of branches in the U.S. shrank by more than 1,700 in the 12 months ended in June 2017, the biggest decline on record, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data.

Branch numbers fell again in the second half of 2017, according to related data submitted to bank regulators and reviewed by the Journal. That would add to the thousands of locations closed following the financial crisis, and is the longest stretch of closures since the Great Depression.

Many of the closings were in big cities and surrounding suburbs, where branches were consolidated largely because of falling foot traffic.

And!

Banks say they carefully consider which branches to close, examining deposit levels at each branch and commute time to the nearest location. “We continue to evolve and optimize our branch network to ensure that we’re operating as efficiently and effectively as possible,” a Capital One spokeswoman said.

For decades, banks needed to add new locations to grow, pushing the number of U.S. branches to a peak in 2009. But in the aftermath of the financial crisis, some started closing branches to save money — and then kept closing them to contend with low interest rates and higher regulatory costs.

Along the way, lenders realized they could maintain their deposit levels with fewer locations in a digital world where customers often prefer banks’ mobile apps and ATMs.

At this point we may need to retire the "bank branches everywhere" tag.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Capital One® departs 14th and 3rd (bank branch down!) for new Union Square home

Chase space on 2nd Avenue and St. Mark's Place is for rent

The East Village is down 2 Chase branches

Today in East Village tsunami warnings

This alert is making the rounds...



There are no tsunami warnings in effect at the current time. Again, there are no tsunami warnings in effect.



H/T Ali Rogers

Some reasons to shop on 9th Street Thursday

A handful of business owners on Ninth Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue have joined forces to host a "shopping crawl" on the block from 4-7 p.m. this Thursday to help inspire locals to shop local. The participating stores are offering a discount on selected items... the map below has the details...


[Click on image for a full view]

Activity at the long-empty 204 Avenue A

Residents yesterday spotted a Davey Drill taking (presumably) core samples from outside 204 Avenue A, the bricked-up building here between 12th Street and 13th Street.

According to public records, the NYC Housing Preservation and Development owns the property. There's nothing on file at the DOB to suggest any future development just yet. (There is a recent filing for "facade repair" at an estimated cost of $4,450.)

No. 204 has been vacant since at least 2009.

A look at Google Street View shows the building in use in September 2007...



By 2009 the place had been boarded up.

H/T dwg!

Popup Florist popping up on 7th Street

Popup Florist, a plant and floral design company, is opening a storefront this month at 63 E. Seventh St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The company, founded by former fashion designer Kelsie Hayes in 2016, has been operating out of a 40-square foot retail/workspace in The Gansevoort Market. The Popup Florist website notes that they have worked with brands and retailers such as Theory, Barneys New York, Facebook, Covergirl and Pottery Barn.

The space was previously home for a short while to the Roll It Up ice cream shop.

Bejeweled NYC, a piercing studio, is Popup's new neighbor on the other side of the front steps ...

165 Avenue B is for rent — again

[Photo from November]

Back in November, the long-empty storefront at 165 Avenue B became home to a production studio for Avänt Candle, an online seller that promises "the ultimate candle experience," including the 365 Annual Candle with 720 hours-plus of burn time for $360.

It looked as if the space would become a retail outlet as well.

Not sure whatever happened to this venture. (Avänt Candle continues on online.) The storefront is empty again ... and the for rent sign arrived again last week...



As previously noted, the space between 10th Street and 11th Street has been vacant for years. A restaurant serving Cantonese-style food was in the works, but that never materialized. The last tenant was the junk-thrift shop Waldorf Hysteria more than 10 years ago.

H/T Salim!

Previously on EV Grieve:
165 Avenue B back on the market

165 Avenue B has been sold, and 2 apartments are on the market

EV Grieve Etc.: Helping the homeless in NYC; viewing the work of Peter Hujar

[Levitating in Tompkins Square Park today. Photo by Derek Berg]

Representatives from four advocacy groups discuss how New Yorkers can best channel their resources when it comes to helping the homeless (Curbed New York)

Why isn’t homelessness seen as a national crisis? (Curbed)

About the six LES nonprofits who will benefit from the $1.25 million Rivington House settlement (The Lo-Down)

Displaced tenant drama at 85 Bowery (BoweryBoogie)

Study: Airbnb is making rents in New York City spike (CNBC)

Howl! buys on the Bowery (Crain's)

Alex Ross Perry's latest film, "Golden Exits," starts Friday (Metrograph) Sing along to "Grease" next Monday night (City Cinemas Village East)

Booking a drip at NutriDrip’s Drip Lounge on First Street (NBC News)

The Morgan Library & Museum is currently showing works from the 1970s-80s of East Village-based photographer Peter Hujar, on view through May 20. Hornet has a preview today of "Peter Hujar: Speed of Life" here.

The Athenian NYC, now serving Mediterranean fare on 10th Street

Before Jason Corey opened The Immigrant Wine Bar on Ninth Street in 2009, he tended bar at Molyvos, a Greek restaurant near Carnegie Hall.

Corey and Kamal Kouiri, the current wine director and GM at Molyvos, spent years drinking Greek wine together.

Now the two have opened their own Greek cafe. The Athenian NYC debuted last Thursday at 224 E. 10th St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue.

The small space was previously home to Graffiti, the well-regarded restaurant from chef Jehangir Mehta.

"The landlords are extremely nice people, so when I heard the space was going to be vacant, we jumped on it," Corey told me.

At the Athenian, he said people can expect to find "great Mediterranean food, delicious Greek wines, and happy servers and chefs."

The kitchen is open daily from 5-11 p.m. More info will be coming to their website soon.

The vintage photobooth from the HiFi needs a new East Village home

[Photo from 2012 at HiFi by Shawn Chittle]

The vintage photobooth that resided inside HiFi these past five-plus years is in need of a new East Village home.

HiFi closed at 167 Avenue A back in the fall. Trixie, the owner of the photobooth, thought that the new establishment taking over the HiFi space would keep the machine... that deal fell through, unfortunately.

"So we’re on the prowl again," Trixie told me. "We still have a booth at Otto’s Shrunken Head on 14th Street, and ideally we’d relocate the one from HiFi somewhere within walking distance of that here in the East Village."

The booth was previously at the Lakeside Lounge, which closed in April 2012, on Avenue B.

Trixie remains hopeful to find another home.

"If we can’t find the right location, a fun bar that’s busy enough to make good use of a photobooth, well then I suppose we’d have to consider selling it," she said. "I know these old photobooths are beloved in the neighborhood, but the neighborhood sure ain’t what it used to be."

Interested parties may contact Trixie via this email.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Lakeside's photobooth has a new home

Lumos Kitchen bringing the baijiu to 2nd Avenue

Lumos Kitchen is the new tenant for the southeast corner of Second Avenue and 12th Street... (thanks to Laura K. for the photos!)



This is apparently an expansion of Lumos, the now-closed (as of April 2017) cocktail bar that debuted in the fall of 2015 on West Houston Street between Thompson Street and LaGuardia Place.

As New York magazine noted, "Lumos ... is likely the only [bar] in America that specializes in baijiu, the ancient Chinese liquor that's probably the most surprising, divisive thing you can drink in the whole city."

And more on baijiu via this Gothamist post from 2015:

Baijiu ("bye Joe") is actually an over-arching term for liquor, roughly translating to "white liquor" in Chinese. Baijiu doesn't refer to one spirit—they're categorized into different "scents," ranging from "rice" scent on the light side of the spectrum to "strong" and "complex" scent on the other end. Baijiu is also the world's most consumed form of liquor; that's what happens when you have the most populous country in the world. According to data from International Wine & Spirit Research, Chinese people drank over 11 billion liters of baijiu in 2012, accounting for more than one-third of all spirits consumed in the world.

So Lumos Kitchen looks to be pairing some food with the baijiu. (There's a help-wanted ad for a sous chef with "experience in French & Chinese restaurant.") For now, there's just a teaser site for the restaurant. The folks behind Lumos look to have further expansion plans, as their website shows...



Anyway, as for this Second Avenue space, three restaurants — Hot Pot Central, DumplingGuo and Dumpling Go — came and went since March 2015. Before this, Shima had a good run here until January 2014.

DöKham will sell Tibetan treasures on 1st Avenue

DöKham, which sells clothes and accessories from Tibet ("treasures from Tibet," per the website), is opening an outpost at 117 First Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place...



DöKham has a store on Prince between Lafayette and Mulberry. Not sure if they are moving or if this will be a second location. (Updated: The Prince Street location, which debuted in 1988, is now closed.) You can find out more about their wares here.

The previous tenant at No. 117, Village Kids Footwear, closed at the end of last summer.

As a P.S. ... and if you don't already know ... Himalayan Vision is a nice Tibetan speciality shop nearby at 127 Second Ave. between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place...