Heed this sign.
A brief reminder from the West Side Rag: support local businesses!
Lately we’ve been hearing from some owners and employees at local stores that business has been slow because all of you are hunkering down under your cozy blankets in your apartments.
Well, it’s time to buck up, West Siders. Make sure to stop by your favorite stores. They need you, they love you. And their exorbitant rents are coming due.
Okay, public service announcement over.
I shop local all the time and so I was rather taken aback by a really negative experience I had at Cardeology on Amsterdam Ave, whose cards I love. Well, I needed to buy a birthday card and party decorations for my mom (85 years young!) and called Cardeology on Amsterdam last Wed Jan 29 to find out how late they were open and I was told till 8pm. I arrived at 7:45pm and the store was partially dark and the door was locked. I knocked on the window and the man who was behind the counter motioned and mouthed through the window ‘we’re closed’. I mouthed back you’re open till 8pm? but he wasn’t interested and turned away. This musta been the same guy who two hours earlier told me till 8pm. I was sorta desparate for a card so I ended up buying some at Duane Reade the next morning. So much for the neighborhood card store…I’m thinking I’ll likely never shop there again or maybe I just won’t go there for a few years… I don’t think this experience is typical of our mom/pop UWS proprietors but also if it’s -5 degrees outside I may re-think my shopping pattern!