Some news on the retail front: Laytner’s Linens & Home, a bedding store on 82nd and Broadway, has decided to shrink by half “by March.” The store is holding a consolidation sale, offering 20% to 70% off. They want to “improve your shopping experience while bringing you higher standards at lower prices.” Thanks to Rebecca Frey for the tip.
Meanwhile, the Coach store on the corner of 84th Street and Broadway closed quite suddenly this week, and the doors are now papered over. A rep for the company offered no explanation. “It was one of the first big national retailers to open on that stretch of Broadway,” notes our tipster, who wished to remain anonymous.
There have been quite a few national chains playing musical storefronts lately, with Banana Republic closing one location and planning to open a massive new one on 86th and Broadway.
Laytners used to be half the size it grew to. I always thought it was bloated. It’s is merely a correction to an appropriately sized space for what they sell. Linens don’t require half a block.
Agreed. Clearly they were trying to be for towels what Zabars, across the street, became for lox and bagels.
Of course, lox and bagels don’t warrant half a city block either, but that hasn’t stopped what was once a neighborhood deli from bloating upstairs and down.
As for Coach, which once upon a time made excellent leather goods: Will the person who shopped there in the past year please raise her hand?
Re: Cato’s comment about Zabar’s having become “bloated.”
With all due respect, Sir, Zabar’s was, is, and hopefully always will be the Upper West Side, and it deserves to have grown as it has. It is quintessential UWS, with its tremendous variety of cheese/appetizing,deli meats, etc. ranging in price from sort-of-affordable to well-maybe-this-once to Holy-cow-are-they-nuts…but-if-i-was-entertaining-i-might.
And even though Trader Joe’s is sometimes an acceptable substitute, “TJ’s” lacks one important ingredient — the wonderful cacophony of smells emanating from those old-fashioned deli counters behind which real live traditional “deli-men” deal with the sometimes very demanding UWS-type customers.
AND, best thing about Zabar’s … it retains that ‘old-UWS’ vibe, never having morphed into an over-priced upscale emporium like its Upper East Side counterparts (can you say “Eli’s”?)
So let’s celebrate our very own Zabar’s.
I’m number 31; gimme a half-pound Belly Lox, but slice it thinner than you did last week!