The Whole Foods Market Daily Shop is now on the calendar for its grand opening at 409 E. 14th St. — May 14 at 8 a.m.
The smaller-format store (10,000 square feet!) will offer more grab-and-go items and the usual WF merchandise.
The StuyTown location will include a Juice & Java venue, offering coffee, tea, juices, smoothies, sandwiches and various desserts.
Whole Foods Market's first Daily Shop location opened last September on the Upper East Side. Another one opens in Hell's Kitchen on June 4.
This space between Avenue A and First Avenue was an Associated Supermarket until December 2019.
You can revisit an earlier EVG post about all this... and here's the media alert that Whole Foods sent out about the grand opening (in case you're interested in learning about the free tote bags).
Five months after closing on the SE corner of Avenue A and 11th Street, the former 7-Eleven has arrived on the rental market.
The broker's signage mentions that the space is avaiable for restaurant or retail use. The online listing states that "all uses considered" for the 2,800-square-foot space.
The 7-Eleven closed after 11 years. The owner told EVG's Stacie Joy that rampant theft was the cause for the closure.
The corner space was previously Bar on A, and the mystery 11th Street side was Angels & Kings, Pete Wentz's former emo hang.
Sitting barren along a tree-less stretch of under-renovation East River Park below the Williamsburg Bridge, the former Fireboat House — most recently home to the Lower East Side Ecology Center — now stands silent and abandoned.
Built in 1941 for Marine Company 66, the two-story Moderne-style building replaced an earlier fireboat station that had operated off Grand Street since the 19th century.
Inside, it sits in quiet disarray — scattered papers, peeling paint and the faint echo of a place once full of purpose.
It will be the last National Register-eligible structure left in East River Park following the demolition of the Track House and Tennis Center as part of the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project.
According to an ESCR spokesperson, the Fireboat House is still undergoing a federal review known as the Section 106 process, which is required to ensure that historic buildings or sites are not negatively impacted by construction projects.
Currently, city agencies — including the Office of Management and Budget, the Department of Design and Construction, and the Parks Department — are reviewing feedback received from groups involved in the process. Once those responses are finalized, they'll be shared with everyone involved, the spokesperson said via email. (The LES Ecology Center will be housed further south in East River Park.)
Although its future use remains uncertain, there is hope that this resilient structure might be spared.
A for lease sign arrived at 82 Second Ave. on Monday.
This is newsy for what isn't going to be opening here: The space was to be the home of Kebabwala, an Indian kebab house from the Unapologetic Foods team.
Apparently after all these years (news of this dates to 2021), founders Roni Mazumdar and Chintan Pandya decided to move on.
An Unapologetic rep told us: "It was going to take us another two years to get a gas line there since the building does not have a commercial gas line installed."
The rep said they currently don't have any other EV storefronts in mind for the kebab concept.
No. 82, located between Fourth Street and Fifth Street, has been vacant for at least 10 years and previously housed restaurants, including 7 Spices and Reyna Exotic Turkish Cuisine. (Now we know why the space has sat empty.)
Meanwhile, work continues at 107 First Ave. between Sixth Street and Seventh Street where Unapologetic Foods is opening an outpost of its popular Adda Indian Canteen. (They were up for a liquor license last July.)
The great Huertas closed here in August 2023 after 10 years in service. The building had a new landlord, and chef Jonah Miller said he could not agree to "suitable terms" for a new lease.
Reps for Paulie Gee's Slice Shop looked at this space in late 2023, although those plans did not move forward.
Unapologetic Foods also operates the fried-chicken outpost, Rowdy Rooster, at 149 First Ave. at Ninth Street, and the Filipino restaurant Naks, 201 First Ave. between 12th Street and 13th Street.
Signage recently arrived for The Hood Spot Convenience at 63 Avenue D between Fifth Street and Sixth Street.
The space has seen a string of similar businesses in recent years, including Spoils & Oils Convenience Corp., Super Vape Convenience Corp. and CresCent Deli & Coffee Candy Store.
Meanwhile, on the SW corner of Avenue D and Fifth Street, the 13-story mixed-used development for the lot that once housed the Uncle Johnny grocery (RIP February 2022) is stalled. We haven't seen any activity here for the past two years. However, there are approved permits for the work, dating back to last summer.
Some big changes are coming to the Key Food on Avenue A.
A high-level Key Foods source outlined what shoppers can expect in the coming weeks as the store spruces things up, from checkout to cold cuts.
First up: the checkout lanes. Starting in early May, Key Food will be removing one of the self-checkout lanes and bringing back a good old-fashioned staffed register.
"Hearing the feedback from customers and management, we wanted to improve the checkout experience," the source said. "We felt that another standard lane would help reduce some of the backup we've seen at the staffed registers."
At the same time, the store is replacing two of its older self-checkout stations with new fixtures.
Then, in mid-May, the rest of the aging self-checkout terminals are getting the boot. The current 11 self-checkouts will be reduced to seven, all of which are newly installed and arranged in a single pass-through lane. The new stations won’t just look sleeker — they'll come equipped with upgraded technology designed to speed up the process and enhance security.
In addition to the checkout upgrades, Key Food is making changes in and around the deli department. A small standalone refrigerator dedicated to sushi — an EVG customer favorite! — will be added by the end of May.
The store will also reorganize ("reset") the deli area to better support its grab-and-go options. Cheese and prepackaged Italian cold cuts will move to the current dairy section.
"We're very excited about the updates and hope you and our customers like the changes," the source said.
You may have noticed the new signage outside 92 E. Seventh St. in recent weeks...
Earlier this spring, the Houston-based Revival Dog Training announced that it was taking over the former School for Dogs space, located between First Avenue and Avenue A.
In Janaury, Annie Grossman had no choice but to shutter School for the Dogs, the business she started in her East Village living room in 2011, with little to no warning to her longtime patrons and staff. She said a potential sale to another local pet services operation fell through at the last minute, leaving her and the business in financial ruin. (You can read our interview with Grossman here.)
We are acquiring the very popular and nationally recognized School For The Dogs' Manhattan location, which closed in January. We plan to honor the SFTD legacy through our own programs and brand, and continue to serve dogs and their people in the East Village community, just as they did for many years. We are thankful to have the help of SFTD owner, Annie Grossman, during our transition.
A group of city officials and local leaders recently gathered along South Street under the FDR — between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges — for a first-hand look at the East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) project's future in action.
Representatives from ESCR, the NYC Department of Design and Construction (DDC), and Community Board 3 were on hand as a temporary hydraulic switch was used to raise one of the new deployable flip-up barriers designed to protect Lower Manhattan from storm surges and rising sea levels.
This stretch of the East River is one of several key points along the ESCR zone, part of the first phase of "The Big U," the years-in-the-making $1.45 billion effort to build layered flood protection along Manhattan's vulnerable coastlines.
The larger Big U project will eventually cover several miles, from Asser Levy Playground down around Battery Park City, blending protective infrastructure with new, raised park space.
The demonstration site, situated just off the East River Esplanade, currently features exposed rebar where a permanent, protected panel box will be installed in the future.
Once completed, the system will allow the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to deploy the gates quickly — within an hour — when severe weather threatens. The DEP will oversee gate operations, with a specially trained team dedicated to monitoring and managing deployments.
The video below provides the best view of the gates in action.
Last fall, the city marked the completion of the first phase between 15th Street and Asser Levy Playground. Upgrades included a revamped Murphy Brothers Playground.
Construction along the ESCR corridor is expected to be complete by 2026.
If you've been on the NW corner of First Avenue and Second Street in recent weeks, you've likely noticed the full-blown construction of the 7-floor residential building.
For now, workers are going down instead of up... depending on the angle, this looks like a prehistoric dig... (thanks to Steven for these pit shots)...
The building at 88 E. Second St. will include ground-floor retail and 22 residential units, likely rentals, given the square footage.
Read our previous posts for more about the project and prior businesses at 33-37 First Ave.
Updated:
An EVG reader shared this photo from the afternoon... showing a cement pumper on-site, filling in that pit...
Since then, the signage and brandage arrived for the new tenant, Bar Bianchi...
A representative shared more details about this establishment, a collaboration between Golden Age Hospitality's Jon Neidich and Craig Atlas, as well as Darin Rubell of Paradise Projects.
Golden Age Hospitality's Executive Chef Nicole Gajadhar has crafted a trattoria-style menu featuring standouts like crisp fried zucchini, rigatoni with sausage, peas, and pink sauce, beef carpaccio, burrata with roasted peppers, and a signature veal Milanese for two. For dessert, guests can indulge in classics like tiramisu, ricotta cheesecake, and affogato.
The cocktail program, created by Cody Pruitt of Libertine, highlights Italian staples like spritzes, negronis, and sgroppinos — made with gelato-inspired ice cream and sorbet from Hallie Meyers' beloved Caffè Panna. The wine list offers a thoughtful selection of natural wines from family-owned wineries that emphasize low-intervention winemaking.
Well, we've come a long way from a previous longtime tenant, Nice Guy Eddie's (RIP 2012), eh?
When it debuts next month, Bar Bianchi — featuring a sidewalk patio along the First Street-Houston side — will be open Monday through Wednesday from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., Thursday from 4 p.m. to 3 a.m., Friday from 2 p.m. to 3 a.m., Saturday from noon to 3 a.m., and Sunday from noon to 1 a.m.
Whole Foods Market's first Daily Shop location opened last September on the Upper East Side. Another one opens in Hell's Kitchen on June 4.
