RETAIL OPENINGS & CLOSINGS: SOULCYCLE, TAROO, NATIONAL CAR RENTAL, RAIN, CITYMD, MORE

We’ve got word of several retail openings and closings in the neighborhood, from a new SoulCycle to beauty and cosmetics stores. Meanwhile, one of the city’s last Judaica stores is in trouble.

Taroo, a clothing boutique on Amsterdam between 82nd and 83rd street, has closed is closing at the end of October and is having a big sale. The State Farm insurance office next to it has moved to 180 West 80th street, Suite 208. Thanks to Rebecca Frey for the tip.

A new SoulCycle is set to open at 2465 Broadway between 91st and 92nd street pending permission from the city. The space used to be a CityMD. “The 3,500-square-foot space will have one class studio with 63 bikes, men’s and women’s locker rooms, and a small entry area for registration and merchandise,” the company’s lawyer told DNAinfo. Considering the devotion of its adherents, the workout spot should be classified as a religious institution and given special parking privileges on holidays.

A new beauty store called Rain Created for Living is opening in the former home of Footlights Shoes (at right) on 74th street and Columbus Avenue. The company sells candles, soaps, oils and lots of other products “using natural ingredients with African origins.”

As we reported earlier, a new CityMD is set to open on West 69th and Broadway and has put up signs already. Thanks to Priscilla for the tip.

Cosmetics store bluemercury looked like it was about to open at 92nd and Broadway (the former home of a Korean deli) as of late last week. We first wrote about it here.

The deli at 96th and West End has closed for good. The Floor Store of West End next door says it is moving. The building was just sold a few months ago, and it’s not yet clear what will happen to the space.

The National Car Rental location has closed on 77th street between Amsterdam and Broadway, making way for the building’s demolition. A new apartment tower is likely to rise on the space. This space is right across from another construction site at a space formerly occupied by a Hertz garage.

West Side Judaica, a store on 88th and Broadway that has been around for 80 years, is under pressure from online competition and rising rents. “Owner Yaakov Saltzer told me on a recent visit that sales have ‘picked up a little in the last couple months, not including the usual bump for the holidays.’ But still, he says, West Side Judaica—one of just two Judaica stores left in Manhattan, and the only one on the heavily Jewish Upper West Side—is ‘just staying afloat,'” writes Zachary Schreiber in Tablet Magazine. “The heavy foot traffic on Broadway after work has dropped in recent years and now yields just a few walk-ins, which Saltzer claims are not enough to ‘sustain’ the store. The trend lines are clear to see.”

Thanks to everyone who sent in tips and photos. Keep ’em coming!

Clarification: The State Farm office moved to 80th, it did not close as we first reported.