Japanese restaurant Izakaya Ida has closed at 141 West 72nd Street near Columbus Avenue. In its place will be a Vietnamese restaurant named Pho Shop, according to a sign on the mailbox and a tipster who knows the new owners. Pho Saigon has a location on the East side. “I’ve known the owners for over 20 years and they have the best pho and pork chops! Their coffee and salty lemon soda are the best,” our tipster wrote. See the menu for the East side location here. An employee there had no information as to whether Pho Shop is opening there, however. Thanks to Diana for the tip.
Landmarc restaurant in the Time Warner Center is closing, according to an Instagram post from chef Marc Murphy. “We’ll be serving our last meal on July 22, and I hope you’ll join us before then for a drink or a meal or just to say hello. Change is never easy, but I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Ricky’s NYC is closing its location at 112 West 72nd Street. There’s a store closing sale with things for 50% off. Thanks to Stephen and John for the tips.
Gelotti, a gelato shop that launched in New Jersey, has its soft opening tonight on Broadway between 92nd and 93rd Street. “Just in time for the hot weather and the flavors look tempting,” wrote Carol. Expect a grand opening in a few weeks.
Sad news about Landmarc. I haven’t been in a while (so I am feeling a little guilty!) but we used to go a lot and it was a great spot for a nice lunch in a relatively kid friendly environment.
Good luck to Gelotti. Looks like a fun place – I will definitely give it a try.
Was 20 bucks for a burger really worth it? I think most readers would agree that’s kinda pricey. This would seem like an establishment for special occasions, not someplace we frequent often.
The relative kid-friendliness was handy for visiting guests with families, but I always felt I was paying 20% too much there.
+1 .. a perfect review. 20% more is exactly how it felt . A little sting to the wallet and the menu never changed
It’s in a luxury mall.
Remember back when Tower Records on 66th street went out of business? They had a sign saying that all items were 50% off. I got all excited & went in there to buy a slew of DVD’s & they had stickers over the original stickers with prices more then double the original price, so in actuality, your “going out of business price” was actually higher then if you went to buy it before their fake sale. Hopefully Rickys is not like that cause I do love their products. I’ll go in there tomorrow & see for myself.
I worked for that Tower records and I remember the closing. They were bought out by a liquidation company who managed the prices.
Normally when a large chain or business files for bankruptcy and is going out of business, yes a liquidation firm handles things.
This isn’t a bad way to go as the liquidation firm pays upfront (IIRC) for merchandise, which provides creditors and anyone else seeking money from bankrupt company ready money. Otherwise it could take many months to fully liquidate stock.
whenever a store or co. goes out of business, they hire a liquidation co.,who in turn take the manufactures list price of inventory, and then apply the liquidation % off.
Since Ricky’s has at least two stores left (on UES), wonder why they just didn’t transfer stock to remaining locations.
It isn’t as if they’ve declared bankruptcy and are thus liquidating entire inventory.
I’d imagine the labor cost of inventorying it, boxing it up, labeling it, transporting it, reinventorying it at new place, unpacking it, organizing it in stockroom if there’s even room for it, just isn’t as cost effective as selling it half off?
Sorry, but UES Ricky’s (3d Ave, 88 St) closed a month ago.
You do realize the UES is rather large territory…
Ricky’s at 1425 2nd Ave (74th street)is still open. Thought there was another further down on Second or First, but cannot find.
Then there still are the locations at 590 and 830 Broadway which are still listed as open.
You’re dating yourself – Tower closed in 2006.
Also, comparing Tower to Ricky’s just isn’t a fair comparison.
Finally, I bought many discounted items during Tower’s going out of business sale, so maybe time has fogged our memories…
Guardedly excited about the Vietnamese joint! Manhattan has a lot of bland pho – I’m hoping this place will be different.
Agree, Saiguette is the best!
Perfect pho, sandwiches, sates, roast pork or lemongrass pork with sticky rice–any of these and I’m in heaven.
And the spicy shrimp Laksa soup with just the right amount of chili oil is my go-to whenever I have a cold or just feel like having something with zip.
The folks who answer the phone are super nice, too.
Me too! The menu looks good.
Try Saiguette on Col & 105th–so tiny (7 seats) I’ve never been, but they deliver relatively fast & friendly, and all their food is great–esp. the Spicy Phô with Udon
Noodles (the regular phô’s good too).
Thanks all for the Saiguette reco. I’ll be sure to go off-hours to secure a couple of their 7 seats. Take-out is a rarity here, maybe once every 5 years and then it’s for food that won’t suffer too much from cooling. Xi’an Famous Foods even warns about takeout quality.
The grilled chicken thigh bahn mi is the best int the city!
Saiguette is the best. I pick up take out from my trip back from Costco every couple weeks. A bit pricey for Pho but its NYC and they take off 10 or 15% when you take out.
love saiguette… we often place huge order just to get the delivery to the 70s
I have super high hopes for Gelotti. Their NJ location has great ice cream and Italian ice!
I’m also very excited for Gelotttii, the only thing that comes to mind is, Rita’s Italian ice was there preciously, they went out of business, I wonder how Rob is gonna do at this location.
Re: “…Rita’s Italian ice was there preciously, they went out of business….”
Probably ’cause they were so preCious!
Ya meant “preViously”, right?
Write once; proofread TWICE !
Thanks spell check
72nd Street continues to undergo a lot of change with some big stores now becoming available. Longs Bedding and Ricky’s were two of the largest stores on the block. Will be interesting to see what goes into those spaces.
There used to be maybe 1 or 2 stores a year that would changeover on 72nd and now in last 4 years it has to be over 20 different businesses coming and going. On a good note though the block finally has some very good successful restaurants with Friedman’s and Miznon and the Thai restaurant.
I suspect the entire Ricky’s chain will soon be a thing of the past. It wasn’t long ago that there were Ricky’s stores all over the city–three of them on the UWS alone. They also had a strong online presence. Now, they’ve discontinued their Ricky’s brand products, the online store is gone, and their website has been reduced to one page with a list of store locations, at least two of which–72nd Street and the Steinway Street location in Queens–are closing or have recently closed. However, Google doesn’t turn up anything about a bankruptcy filing or the chain being sold to another company. Anybody know what’s up?
Said this before in another thread on Ricky’s, they like many other health and or beauty supply places must adjust to changes in retail caused by online.
Love’s, Cosmetics Plus, Rays Beauty Supply, and tons of other similar places have vanished thanks in part to online.
You can go on eBay, Amazon, or whatever and find nearly any sort of cosmetic, hair care, perfume, waxing/hair removal supplies, nail care, etc… Often for less money than Ricky’s.
Ricky’s also over the years got into trouble for selling “diverted” professional products they shouldn’t have. This and no small amount of “professional” products Ricky’s does sell (especially hair care) is old (in some cases ancient) inventory.
Alcone still survives in large part thanks to NYC’s huge theatre, performing arts, professional photography, and modeling industry.
Then there is the fact Walgreen’s, DR, RiteAid and other similar stores sell many of the same “professional” hair care and nail products as Ricky’s, but again often for less.
I don’t think Ricky’s is a particularly huge loss, considering, as you say, that many of the same products can be found online for less. And Duane Reade has really upped their cosmetics game in the past few years so that’s an option as well. I do miss the Ricky’s store brand products, though–their nail polish was the best I’d ever bought, outlasting the high-end brands that cost twice as much.
“I don’t think Ricky’s is a particularly huge loss, considering, as you say, that many of the same products can be found online for less. And Duane Reade has really upped their cosmetics game in the past few years so that’s an option as well.” – RF
RF, I figure that you, as a woman (or any of the commentariat) can answer me this: Aren’t people better off trying the cosmetics and soliciting expert advice on how they look on you? I ask because so many people are in public looking like they bought their cosmetics online and without any feedback.
Don’t want to date myself too much, but the department stores and high-end boutiques offered expert advice, and I think that helped.
Ricky’s billed itself as “NYC’s resident beauty and hair care headquarters”. As one stated they are in the beauty, hair care and so forth “supply” business. Not unlike the (again) closed Ray’s Beauty Supply store and countless others either still around, or long since closed.
These places primarily were sources for licensed professionals, students of said professions, and those in various performing arts, trades and so forth to purchase what they needed.
Cosmetologists, hairdressers, barbers, manicurists, models, actors, dancers, make-up artists, and so forth all need to be supplied with certain tools of their trade.
Supplies meant to be sold to “professionals only” assume the user via their education/background have the necessary basic skills for use. This and or they can find out. Some places offer advice to lay persons, others strictly to the trade.
Ricky’s was never strictly “to the trade” only. Depending upon which store one visited/staff available expert advice might be found, or not.
Department stores, places like Cosmetics Plus, etc… are strictly designed for retail sales to consumers. As such they offer all sorts of advice, demonstrations and so forth. But it is all part of making a sale.
Professional/to the trade products also have demonstrations, classes, sales advice, trade shows, etc… but again they are geared towards professionals. That is they will assume persons already know the basics and teach/advise to that level.
There are products that cross over between both professionals and consumers. MAC cosmetics is sold both to the trade and in retail outlets.
In summation guess best way to break things down is that to the trade/professional stores cater normally to those who know exactly what they want/need. Retail generally is for those that *may* know what they need, but usually are seeking/will need advice.
from beautyindependent sept 2018
For the last two years, Ricky’s NYC has been adjusting its retail real estate portfolio. It moved a store on 14th street to Broadway, and closed units on 14th and 23rd streets, and 1st Avenue. “It was a sign of some correction and right sizing. A few leases that we had for a long time probably weren’t financially the best leases, and there are better opportunities and better locations out there,” says Aquilino. “It was just a matter of stepping back to take a step forward. Now, we’re in a position where we want to expand whether that’s with pop-up shops or additional brick-and-mortar locations.”
I better start making Halloween costume plans now.
Dannyboy, In my youth we didn’t have costumes…we had chalk and we would chalk other kids jackets as they would do us.The tough kids would put a lot of flour in an old stocking and wack the kids with it …..of course you could also go through your building, ringing door bells and saying “trick or treat”, you would get a piece of candy or an orange or apple.
Yes!
In The South Bronx we ground up those pastel chalks and put a lot of flour in an old stocking and wack kids from other blocks with it.
Plus eggs…lots of eggs!
Just to be clear, there are “liquidation” sales, and merely “going out of business/store closing” events.
When Gracious Home closed they handled things in house, selling off inventory from closing stores, and or moving things from locations that shut to ones remaining open