OPENINGS & CLOSINGS: AMERICAN APPAREL, CHIPOTLE, VINE SUSHI, MORE
A hip clothing store has closed, but sushi and ramen are here. Check out a list of recent Upper West Side openings and closings below.
American Apparel on 73rd street and Broadway bit the dust this week, as the larger corporation reels from losses and a boardroom fight. A sign on the door says “We Moved” although it directs shoppers to a store that’s been around for awhile on 60th street. Could the space be combined with the huge Loehmann’s spot that’s been empty for more than a year? Thanks to Gretchen, Harriet and D.R.
Chipotle has its sign up at its newest location on Columbus Avenue near 100th street in the Columbus Square development. Thanks to Jillian for the photo.
Farinella Bakery, a new pizza place on Amsterdam between 72nd and 73rd, was supposed to open earlier this week, but could be delayed until Thursday or Friday, an employee told D.R. We wrote about it here.
The Desktop USA store at 85th and Broadway has closed, Marsha tells us.
The brown paper is now gone from the windows at Italian restaurant Mezzogiorno, which is opening in the old home of Indian Café between 107th and 108th. It’s stil unclear on when exactly it will open. We wrote about it here. Thanks to Robert and R. Schmunk for the tips and photos.
Vine Sushi, which closed after a March fire at Ollie’s on 116th and Broadway, has reopened. It’s not clear exactly when it reopened, but R. Schmunk thinks it might have been in the past couple of weeks.
Naruto Ramen has been open for a few weeks on Broadway between 99th and 100th street. Its menu is below (click to enlarge).
American Apparel was very lame.
Agree. I never understood the appeal of their stuff. Their demise is long overdue.
I agree, with the exception of their t-shirts, which are unbelievably comfy.
The menu for the yet-to-be-opened Farinella, which is being distributed to passersby, may serve as a buffer against Sticker Shock once you reach the cash register.
For instance, a slice of Margherita is $4.50; mushroom $5.40; pepperoni $5.70.
Slight correction. The ramen shop is Naruto (not Naturo). Nice to see more high quality ramen shops open.
Personally, I love Yasha Ramen on Amersterdam between 106th and 107th.
Thanks, fixed the typo! WSR
I tried out the Naruto location a couple of weeks ago. Excellent broth, good noodles, and a more upscale look than its East 90s sister location. (Although if I’m being honest, I kind of like the “you’re sitting in the kitchen” vibe of the UES spot.)
The entire Broadway block that The Ansonia fills can be imagined as two upright slices of bread with nothing sandwiched in between. At the south end is the “North Face” slice; at the north end, TD Bank — with three begging storefronts in the middle creating a famished space.
Maybe the added traffic generated by Trader Joe’s has increased that block’s commercial real estate value; maybe the upcoming Bloomingdale’s Outlet will attract even more traffic to finally interest a retailer. Maybe the Verdi Park area will turn into a mini-Union Square.
American Apparel is totally lame and there’s no shape to the clothes. Really don’t know how they stuck around so long.
Farnell is not going to be good. I have gone to the UES location a few times and it’s so expensive for 1 square piece and it is not flavorful. It is good to look at but very bland crust and sauce. So, again, why does the uws replicate the ues restaurants? The neighborhood is becoming cookie cutter.more chipotle, maison Kayser, chirping chicken Sara Fino, it’s all the same chains.
Chirping Chicken started on the Upper West Side (west side of Amsterdam at 77th Street, if I recall).
And although they’ve opened a few other stores over time (I don’t how many remain), I’m not sure they qualify as a “chain”, certainly not in the way the others you list do.
Otherwise I agree with you.
Yes, Chirping Chicken started on the West Side — at the southwest corner of Amsterdam and 77th Street. It was then known as “Chirpin’ Chicken”. I don’t know why the “g” got added to “Chirpin’ ” At some point, the owner won a *huge* lotto jackpot, so it could have transpired with a transfer in ownership, if, indeed, she sold the business.
Later on, one cropped up at 85th and Lexington; I think that it’s gone. Then, much later, in the food court at Grand Central station; I don’t know whether it’s still there.
Beside these, there are four other locations listed on the internet.
i think you recall correctly. it was a hot, busy restaurant when it opened in the what, 80s? a UWS original it is.
Don’t know just when they opened, Geoff. Yes, it was hot in there. They had a very short menu and few tables available.
Their people and their food were always dependable. It’s nice to say that they earned their success.
We get them because the participants are trying to replicate a demographic that they think is still present here. Perhaps it was, but that was 20 years ago. The W70’s is the worst possible area for food. The customer is simply not here. You tell me why that is so.
Sean – Have a different view of this than you do…
I do not think new food/new chain restaurants and food places on the UWS are thinking about a demographic from 20 years ago.
The new food places are opening up, responding to current demographics and preferences.
The UWS mirrors what has happened to Manhattan – chain food places everywhere, whether fast-food Chipotle or Dunkin Donuts or more upscale like Maison Kayser.
There has been more development and more people on the UWS.
More suburban-raised people living here, compared to 20 years ago.
More students around (Fordham, John Jay expansion, Columbia)
More tourists.
Commercial real estate rents have escalated and chain stores will pay higher rent.
Chipotle, Trader Joe’s etc is always full. No surprise that more chains are seeking to open up.
you’ve already forgotten Vinnie’s on amsterdam (72/73) and Al Buon Gusto on 72nd? and the braziian ‘all you can eat lobster’ in the basement restaurant off culumbus on 77th?
Geoff, I have not forgotten Vinnie’s — with the paper-thin Italian (I think his name was Sal) making pizza — beautiful eyes, luxuriant straight black hair, angular face, sunken cheekbones — yet very, very healthy. He had a ready “hello” each time a customer entered. He left before the place expanded, I believe. They had great pizza.
Also, there was Horn&Hardart (where Citibank is) and Éclair on 72nd Street; there was Tibs on Broadway. Few will remember all those.
First I’ve read of UWS Bloomingdale Outlet; according to online articles, supposed to open NW corner 72nd and Broadway this fall.
Chipotle, BareBurger, Birch, Whole Foods, Starbucks, …why can’t we get a decent old fashioned coffee shop in this Columbus Mall? (Spaces are too big and the rents too high.) Have to walk to Broadway (Manhattan/between 94th-95th Sts.or Metro at 100th St.).
Aside from the Rent, between health care, paid sick leave, and a possible $15 and hour minimum wage, who would want to open a coffee shop on the UWS or anywhere else. If you want more mom and pop stores, stop electing progressives like DeBlasio who think that business exists to provide money to government.
The $15/hour minimum wage only applies to chain fast food restaurants, and the federal (not city) mandate to provide health care benefits currently only applies to corporations with 100+ employees.
For mom-and-pop shops, rent is the killer.
The current proposal in NY State, endorsed by Cuomo, is an across the board increase in the minimum to $15/hr and is not limited to fast food workers.
Cuomo has also said that any across-the-board increase in the minimum wage should be accompanied by a tax break for small businesses.
Yes, the Bloomingdale’s Outlet is going into the space where Urban Outfitters was located. Won’t miss UO or Ameican Outfitters and hope someone wil bring Eddie Bauer back to the UWS. They were big for so many years and just disappeared from the city a few years ago.
Eddie Bauer clothes are hideous. The chain has been struggling for years because of theiir target customer.
I hope the Bloomingdale’s outlet is such a success that they open a separate Men’s Outlet in the old Loehmann’s space…complete with a Forty Carrots.
I used Desktop USA several years ago before I owned a computer. I liked it but it seemed uninviting for a long time before it closed. I still use Copy Experts on Broadway near 90th Street, more for printing or making copies.
HOORAY! So glad to finally see the demise of American Apparel which I’ve boycotted ever since learning of the accusations of sexual misconduct of female employees by founder and former CEO Dov Charney and seeing the use of demoralizing images of women in their advertising. Just a rotten trashy company. Apparently the company is in a free fall on NYSE and risks being de-listed. Woohoo!
Thanks to all who also boycotted the company’s stores. Seems finally they are done.
I include opinion from NYT:
“A Grope and a Shrug
Dov Charney, American Apparel and Sexual Harassment”
JUNE 30, 2014
Frank Bruni
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/01/opinion/frank-bruni-dov-charney-american-apparel-and-sexual-harassment.html
Perhaps, based on your expose and those who commented on American Apparel’s fashion-sense, the Rag Editors will get to work on the lede.
hint: “A hip clothing store…”
The nice people at Desktop USA told me that they were forced out by their landlord. They moved to a new location on Main Street in Ft. Lee, NJ. They will deliver to the UWS to maintain their regular customers.
Buy a printer.
Am I missing something? American Apparel has been closed for months.
They’ve already started construction inside for Bloomingdales Outlet.
You’re thinking of Urban Outfitters.
The NYT reports that American Apparel has filed for bankruptcy:
“The Chapter 11 filing would enable the clothing retailer to keep its 130 stores in the United States open, the company said.”