Chinese food will be coming to this space…
There’s good news and bad news in this edition of Upper West Side openings and closings. New Chinese food is coming, a wine bar has served its last drink, and clothing stores and thrift shops look set to close.
Han Dynasty, a Sichuan restaurant with a downtown location, will open on West 85th street in the former home of Bocca di Bacco, Eater reports. “The menu at the new Han Dynasty will be the same as it is downtown (think dan dan noodles, wok-fried meats, and those blistering hot dry pepper chicken wings), and Chiang is bringing his chef Mei da Liu from Philadelphia to set up the kitchen. Chiang will be applying for a full liquor license, which would be a step up from the original East Village outpost, which operates with only beer and wine. The restaurant is expected to open in early May.”
Cava, a wine bar on 80th street just off of Amsterdam Avenue, closed a few days ago, according to a longtime regular who contacted us. “They were unable to negotiate a new lease with the landlord–sounds like the landlord wanted a huge rent increase. Definitely not due to a lack of business, as it was always packed…The regulars are deeply saddened.”
Valley Thrift Shop at 949 Amsterdam Avenue (107th) is set to close after at least 20 years at that location, said Myrta Maldonado, who works at the shop and sits on the board of the nonprofit that runs it.
The thrift shop is run by the Valley Restoration Development Corp., a nonprofit that has been instrumental in the development of Manhattan Valley since it was founded in 1979 — they helped turn the landmark building at 891 Amsterdam Avenue into a hostel in 1984 after it had become a burned-out shell. Myrta says she also expects the nonprofit to shut down, although that will be a longer process. We heard from one source that there is some dissent on the nonprofit’s board about the potential closure and “it remains to be seen” whether it closes, but we did not hear back from other board members when we attempted to contact them. Myrta says they need $200,000 to keep it running.
The big Urban Outfitters at the corner of 72nd street and Broadway (pictured at left) is on the market, seeking a tenant to move in as of July 2015. The Cushman and Wakefield listing calls the location “the best retail corner on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.” Urban has occupied that space since 1999, when the HMV music store closed.
The listing doesn’t mean Urban will definitely close — sometimes landlords list the space but still come to terms with the tenant — but it does look like the brokers are serious. Their renderings call the new tenant “L&M” — a nod perhaps to H&M, one of Urban’s arch-rivals.
Also being marketed by Cushman: the Burberry Brit store on 68th and Columbus, and Ann Taylor Loft on 69th and Broadway.
Wow – I’m excited for Han Dynasty!
That thrift shop is so important for the neighborhood. You can find wonderful things for so cheap in there I’m sad to see it go. Hopefully it won’t be replaced by some yuppie crap. Above 90th street is the only salvageable part of the UWS left.
It would be amazing if some decent Chinese opened in the neighborhood. Hopefully Han lives up to the downtown hype!
Any info on what’s going on with the old bank space on 91st and Broadway? It looks like they gutted it.
It looks like it will be a Just Salad
Ugh, another bland and overpriced chain. Every neighborhood has exactly what that block of Broadway has – Equinox, Le Pain Quotien, Petco, and now a salad place. Lame!
MrUWS, any source on this? That would be a great opening on an otherwise desolate block…
This thrift shop is a gem. I think there are only three on the UWS and this one is carefully curated and maintained. Of course, if the parent organization is disbanding, the closure is unavoidable. The parent organization is also extremely valuable to the neighborhood. Any ideas to salvage it?
The cost of living in Manhattan is a direct result of the unfettered greed of retail landlords. There’s no rationale for the $250 to $400 per square foot asking rents on the Upper Westside because retailers can’t achieve sufficient sales volume to pay them. So good merchants are forced out of business. And without any abity to push back on the ever-increasing higher costs of goods and food, residents pay redicous amounts for items from toilet paper to having a simple meal delivered from a local restaurant. Trust me, the landlords hand grabs way too much money in each transaction without any rationale other than its their prerogative.. Occupancy costs accounts for about $15 from of every meal.
Retailers are lemmings. They go where other retailers are in the hope that business is better where other similarly-priced stores are, only to find out that no one is making a living at these rents. Landlords hear of what a space nearby has achieved, and they want more. And they eventually find a sucker.
Not enough people shop Burberry Brit. It’s to expensive and not tailored to UWS bodies. It’s nice to look at, but it’s not a prolific brand, unfortunately. That I get. It’s a round peg Ina square hole. The same for the new Kate Spade store on Columbus Avenue. Sandro will go too. And in the end, the reining champ will be a bloody Banana Republic. Yawn. Diversity and a range of affordable food and clothing is gone forever. The king is dead. Long live the king.
Tenants set market rents, not landlords. That is why rents are lower in other places, even though landlords would gladly accept higher rents. Why is this so hard to understand for some people?
Nonsense. Then why are there so many vacant storefronts? If tenants could decide what the rent should be, each store would be rented and thriving.
Rather, landlords pick an arbitrary number. If anyone wants to rent at that rate, the store is filled. If no one wants to pay that much, the store is empty.
Further, if tenants set the market, then we would not see instances of a (sometimes long-term) tenant having to shutter a thriving business in the face of a massive rent increase — only then to see the store remain vacant because no one else will pay the raised rent either. Rather, if tenants set the market, there would be a new tenant ready and eager to move in as soon as the old tenant vacated.
Landlords would rather let their stores lie fallow, waiting for inflated rentals, than rent to a functioning tenant at a rate lower than the landlord’s arbitrary number. That’s why so many businesses close and that’s why we see soooo many empty storefronts.
The landlords set the market; tenants either pay up or move out.
Why is this so hard for you to understand?
UWS bodies???? hahaha. speak for yourself and if you can’t fit into Burberry might I suggest a couple months at Physique57 or any other gym as well as more patronage of salad outposts?
This is spot on. Retail lemmings, retail saturization and retail cannibalization throughout the U.S. Also mall proliferation which has resulted in the failure of a number of malls.
But once the chains push out long-time nieghborhood stores/businesses or local stores/businesses, as has been the case in NYC especially over past 10 years, that is it – those long-time or local stores will never come back. Chains won’t stay for various reason – and the commercial turnover begins. All of this impacts the community.
Sad to see what has happened on the UWS but unbelievable to see destruction of long-time shops in Greenwich Village and the East Village.
Speak for your own UWS body!
I’ve been saying it for a while now… we need some form of commercial rent regulation.
no commercial rent control.
no more government interference
no more red tape.
stream line the process, lower taxes, relax approvals, take power from CB for liquer license, stop adding more rules that make it hard for small business, stop the ticketing for everything.
How is it that you know so much about what’s in the economic best interest of the community but can’t spell “liquor”?
wow, great point from the typo police.
you really added to the conversation.
so that negates what I have to say, aka the truth.
you are in the wrong country…free market.
Looks like Furry Paws on Amsterdam and 66th is closed–no sign on the door but empty shelves.
No surprise — the shelves have been half-empty for months. About a month ago, I even asked the owner if the store was closing, but he said no.
I’m disappointed to see that Cava is closing. It became my go-to date bar after Slightly Oliver closed last year. Urban Outfitters isn’t a huge loss as they have another UWS location, on 99th and Broadway–the replacement is sure to be a chain, but fingers crossed that it’ll be clothing retail rather than another bank!
New York Dog Shop on 73rd Street is in the process of closing as well. They will be relocating to Edgewater, NJ.
Anyone know what happened to Spot on 82nd and Columbus?
What a bummer that Cava is closing. Really liked it there.
Re: the discussion of commercial rents in the hood – if the landlord’s cost structure is anything like my co-op nearby, a significant majority of his or her costs are beyond his or her control, namely energy costs and property taxes. Our property taxes have doubled in 4 years, and energy costs rise by 6-10% annually. Clearly the area is getting more affluent, and local places sadly are getting squeezed which is to be lamented, just pointing out that costs are going nowhere but up, too.
Chris that is crazy talk – its always the landlord’s fault period. end of story.
Yes, there are HORRIBLE GREEDY landlords , there are also good ones too.
The city and its leaders (and the uber liberals that love them) need a demon to deflect that many of the costs are directly in the City’s control. ie. PROPERTY TAXES via doubling and tripling the assessed value of buildings (bloomberg was the big proponent of this) – WATER, SEWER are also under NYC control.
and the constant adding of new laws that negatively affect small businesses – paid vacation and sick days (even if you have just a few employees) , permits , delays delays, delays in getting approvals – all do not help or encourage businesses and job growth.
I would like to see one pro business move my this Mayorship.
Do you have a job? I’m just curious because you always, without fail, comment and list any and all Conservative Talking Points that vaguely apply to the subject at hand. If you do have a job, I hope you’re not in charge of public safety, cause I’m thinking a lot of people might die one day because you just GOTTA stick it to Bruce Berstein.
Peace and love to you too Sami, unless it is you are talking to Sarcasm.
May I ask why you do not ask that person whose name you mentioned “has a job”?
Clearly you object to my views. that’s okay. Not sure how trying to tell the truth to promote lower costs for ALL and not just the select chosen few special interest groups makes me a conservative., but i guess in the topsy turvy funhouse of NYC that it is.
I think I already know your “job” , NY City Council member or aid to one of them.
I’m thinking of renting out my place. I’m pretty sure I could rent it for $4,000 per month. However, I’ve decided to rent it out for $3,000, because I don’t want to be greedy.
You wouldn’t know it if the area was getting more affluent by the way people complain and moan about the mayor and 99cent stores opening by their market rate shoeboxes.
hooray for han Dynasty! been to their downtown location and food is really good.
saw a sign on Schatzie the Butcher’s window that they’re relocating too