Check out news about a shuttered Chinese restaurant, a new afterschool spot and several other Upper West Side openings and closings.
Empire Corner, a Chinese restaurant on the corner of 106th street and Amsterdam, has closed and has a For Rent sign up. It got very mediocre reviews on Yelp. Thanks to Ira for the photo.
Pixel Academy, an after-school technology exploration center for kids, is opening a location at 211 West 88th street (between Broadway and Amsterdam). “We’ll be offering after school access to kids 6 and up and teaching all sorts of technology from video game design to 3D printing,” wrote founder Mike Fischtal. “All starting in January.” They’re also using a Kickstarter to raise money.
A Tesla testing site opened on the ground floor of the Time Warner Center. There’s a Model S there and you can design your very own Tesla.
A restaurant called The End is expected to open in the former home of Corvo Bianco on Columbus between 82nd and 83rd street, a source tells us. The owners will be the same. The Times reported last month that the owners had tapped Scott Bryan to be the new chef and a partner in the new restaurant. “The End” is fitting because it’s in The Endicott building.
A small candy and nut store on the South side of West 72nd street just off of Columbus has closed. Several tipsters were not particularly sad about the closure. I personally enjoyed the chocolate nonpareils there every so often.
Claire’s Boutique, a jewelry and accessories store on Broadway and 81st, closed its doors and plywood scaffolding went up a couple of weeks ago. But an employee at another location says they’ll reopen after a renovation.
I’m surprised the the Candy/Nut store lasted as long as it did. The place looked dirty, the guys behind the counter were sullen and surly and the stale candy looked like it had been in the bins for years – there were disintegrating boxes of Easter Peeps on the shelves all through the summer.
The peanut-butter Only-8 was good, though….
Empire Corner is on Amsterdam, not Columbus.
Thanks, fixed. WSR
The Empire Corner was a last relic of solid (not gourmet) Chinese delivery Empire network. Alas.
Also you should note that fresh fish market at 111 and Amsterdam has shuttered, a long-time, multi location outlet of Kim (?) operations. Only remaining cheap fish is on 103, near Post Office. Can greedy landlords be driving out residents by making healthy food too expensive? I’m not sayin’, but George Carlin could work with this idea….
Ps…. Plenty of other chinese options around. Any of the new kam lai locations will provide the solid delivery you’re looking for. And ollies in the 90s has really improved as of late.
Why does charging market rent in buildings you own make you greedy? If you can rent them out for market rent you are a capitalist in my opinion.
Buying a bldg in nyc is an expensive and risky endeavor and those who do so should be entitled to a profit. Plenty of landlords go broke but no one mentions them. Would you take a voluntary 40% cut in your salary if you had the choice?
Agreed that it’s surprising the candy store lasted that long. Makes me wonder if anything else was happening there. Yes, I liked the peanut butter Only 8 too, but let’s face it, there’s no way it was 8 calories an ounce.
Some time back diagonally across from that bad Chinese take-out was a great Chinese take-out that was forced out by the nightmarish landlady. There may be options, but that was the best option for Chinese in the area; they made me custom dishes to order with fresh garlic and ginger. Oh well! And can someone REALLY explain what happened to our fish store on 108th? It will be missed!
The candy/nut store was called West Side Nuts. The other day I took a photo of the store, with paper obscuring its windows, to send to West Side Rag, for possible inclusion in the Openings/Closings section. The little store looks sad and defeated now.