"Don't it always seem to go that you dont know what you've got til it's gone....
Four years ago, I posted a blog on activerain titled Say No to Drugs Store Chains when I discovered that all the stores on my block were being forced to close. First The Malaysia Grill at the corner then the next day I discovered the Korean family that owned my local produce 24 hour grocery store was packing up and leaving after 15 years because the landlord wouldn't renew their lease. The new landlord who just inherited the building probably thought he could do better with a big box retailer.
My block 87th/88th Street and Broadway prior to 7/3/2007
My block after July 3, 2007 and how it looked for about 2 years after.
They gutted the place and put in new windows, It remained this way for another two years.
Poor real estate broker responsible for shoveling snow from sidewalk in front of vacant storeront.
Finally a new store opens, Ricky's they sell haircare beauty supplies, shampoo, pop rocks and purple and orange wigs. When they first opened, I was walking past the store with a client who has lived in the neighborhood a long time. I sold him a beautiful prewar apartment on West 86th Street 5 years ago and 10 years ago a rental on West 73rd Street. They're looking again for a higher floor with outdoor space.
We were joking how long the store would last. I said: "I give them 6 months" My friend and client said: Longer because Ricky's is a chain-they have a store on 72nd and Columbus so they can go without customers longer. We laughed although I said: There is a big diference between 72nd and Columbus and 87th and Broadway. We shall see.
Then right before Labor Day, the last week of August (99 degrees) a Japanese Gap type store with the slogan The "jewel of textiles," with the ultimate in softness opened with fake snow in the window selling high tech parkas and jeans and spandexy looking tea shirts.
Oh well they didn't even last 1 month, Vacant storefront again. To this day I have not found better produce than from The Korean grocer. The bakery moved up the street a block, Ray's pizza is gone and the Chicken take out is gone.
"Don't it always seem to go that you dont know what you've got til it's gone.... (Joni Mitchell)
"Bulls make money...Bears make money... Pigs get slaughtered" (Jim Cramer)
"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" (proverb)
At this point I wouldn't even mind another drugstore or bank. At least the drugstores sell overpriced milk and toilet paper and the banks have ATM machnes.
Call Mitchell Hall, Associate Broker
The Corcoran Group
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