By Gus Saltonstall
After readers inquired, we have updates about two local restaurants.
Café Noi
Café Noi at 387 Amsterdam Avenue (Between 78th and 79th) has closed its doors permanently after 5 years of business on the Upper West Side– for those five years the café had been serving an assortment of espresso drinks, pastries and other café classic items.
“My favorite place to write on UWS,” wrote Terena Bell on Twitter. “I feel like my community is gone.”
“I’m a coffee snob and I really enjoyed what they brewed,” wrote Steven Stark, owner of nearby Beacon Paint & Hardware. “They were really nice and we kibbitzed a lot. I ran into friends there all the time.”
No new business has yet to claim the soon to be empty location, according to an employee.
Vai
Vai at 429 Amsterdam Avenue (Between 80th and 81st), a highly rated Mediterranean restaurant serving its food in an “intimate and energetic space”, recently closed its doors and put up brown paper on its windows. However the closing is only temporary as they are making some small renovations and the restaurant should be opened back up sometime this week, the owner said last week.
Thanks to Rebecca and Terena for the photos, and to several others for the tips.
Cafe Noi made the best chai lattes in NYC and their corn soup was to die for. I am devastated that they closed! Please let us know if they reopen somewhere else.
NPK,
There is a Caffe Noi located at Second Ave between 76th and 77th Streets. Not sure if this location also closed.
We have truly lost a friend. The staff was fantastic…service great! As real estate rents have soared, Small businesses in NYC are going the way of the dinosaur. Just heard that the store next to the flower shop on Broadway btw 79th/78th(former re-used clothing store) is renting for $20,000/month. No one can make a living with those rents. This is an issue our public officials should have been aware of…and where is the Chamber of Commerce in supporting small business? With development of new construction projects stores are challenged…What will be the fate of our Columbus Avenue boutiques, cafes etc., when the 3-5 year AMNH, Gilder Center expansion starts?
Five years and already calling it quits. Wonder if it related to rent, expenses, the business or all three in part.
I feel like literally every single place is closing down.
Oh nooooooo on Noi. Feel like I lost my best friend. Loved that place. Please, please let us know more info, especially if they open elsewhere.
Terrible news! Loved Noi.
I worked from Cafe Noi at least two days a week for the last couple of years…I left for vacation two weeks ago and returned yesterday to set up shop only to see the sign on the door. I’ve never had such an emotional reaction to a business closing! I walked up Amsterdam in a complete daze for like thirty minutes…super dramatic, I know…but it was SO unexpected and such a cold note left in the window!
For how long did you use Cafe Noi to do your personal business each of those two days a week? For how many weeks? Months?
How much money did you spend at Cafe Noi each day after you “set up shop” there(to use your term)?
How many possible cash customers did Cafe Noi lose each day because they couldn’t find a seat to enjoy their coffee, because you were conducting your rent-free personal business?
I’m sure you personally weren’t the single cause of the business failing, but how could you think that the Cafe was there to provide you with a rent-free office?
Another way to view this: how much extra do UWS residents pay in purchase price or rent, just because we value a neighborhood with places like Cafe Noi.
I’m saying, we all know that the median apartment price isn’t $1.3 million in most of the country or even the region. People historically choose the UWS, and pay way way up for it, because we like the ambiance, the architecture, the location, and the street retail.
But if that starts to go away, sure, we lose one of our favorite places for a cup of soup and a delicious salad, but also the neighborhood maybe loses some of its value to us.
PLUS, it’s hard to imagine a retail landlord today who isn’t worried about retaining tenants. This is a strange time to try jacking rents if it means letting the space sit empty for long.
Honestly, I never understood how they were able to stay in business allowing people to do what I did (though I typically sat at the bar and ordered breakfast and lunch and snacks throughout the day) – but I spent a lot of time there and chatted with the owners often and was just a bit shocked to see it closed so abruptly. That’s all.
I’ve never understood how so many little places like Cafe Noi can survive. People sit there for an hour, two hours, three hours. They order a cup of coffee and a danish, maybe a second cup of coffee. Do customers like that bring in enough income even to pay the inevitably low-paid staff? How can these places pay the high rents at a location like Amsterdam between 78th and 79th? And people are shocked when they close? Really?
Many years ago, a beloved small business on the Upper West Side was forced to close. Their lease came due and the landlord wanted a staggering rent increase. The business was surely making a profit, but not enough to cover the new rent. Days before they closed, I had a conversation with one of the owners, someone who still lives in our neighborhood. I mentioned that while she was Manhattan’s Borough President Ruth Messinger had pushed for commercial rent control for small businesses with strong community roots just like his. But the owner told me he was against commercial rent control! Obviously if he was the landlord he didn’t want anyone restricting his from charging a 500% rent increase. I felt that he identified more with the landlord who was killing his successful, cherished business than with his role in creating and running his own wonderful store.
He obviously identified with the entrepreneurship of the building owner. And that he would not have wanted the government telling him what prices he could have charged his customers either.
Does anyone know what’s going in the spot where Amaryllis Florist was located, Amsterdam btwn 72 and 73?
Also, how about all the empty shops on 72nd from Amsterdam to WEA? The bakery, nail spa and a couple of other storefronts are empty on the south side of the street.
Joe Coffee is expected to replace Amaryllis: https://www.westsiderag.com/2017/04/27/openings-closings-joe-coffee-serafina-kolorbar-champion-pizza-spectrum-landmark-cinemas
I’d love a running tally of empty storefronts on the Westsiderag. The Empty Storefront counter (or something). Anything we can do to keep up awareness about how many businesses are pushing out small ones and standing empty.
Gale Brewer’s office just finished a huge project that mapped every single vacant storefront in Manhattan. if you call her office, I am sure they would be happy to send you a copy. It’s quite an eye opener.
I too feel like I lost my best friend – was totally devastated… so unexpected…. cafe noi was the warmest , loveliest place on the uws Made a perfect latte and delicious food – all with a personal and friendly touch – so so sad ….
I feel the same way.Cafe Noi was wonderful. When I stopped by there yesterday to get my Monday cup of coffee and to sit for a few minutes I was dumbstruck.. I just kept looking in the window, I hoping it wasn’t so.