By Lisa Kava and Scott Etkin
The Zabar’s Gift Showroom is now open at 2276 Broadway (at 82nd Street), in the space formerly occupied by Laytner’s Linens. The pop-up gift shop, which sells Zabar’s totes, mugs, apparel, and holiday gift baskets, will be open from December 14th through December 24th, daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. On December 18th and December 24th it will close at 4 p.m. The book Zabar’s: A Family Story, With Recipes, is available for purchase. “Visitors will be able to see the best of what Zabar’s has to offer,” a Zabar’s press release says. “Visitors should also expect appearances by prominent New Yorkers, including New York Nico, Alysia Renie (Orange is the New Black, Ms. Marvel), Jake Cohen, and representatives from the internet lifestyle brand Old Jewish Men.”
A neighborhood favorite UWS fruit and vegetable cart vendor has started his own business on 90th and Broadway (southeast corner.) Taskin Elmali, the cart owner, originally from Turkey, has been working as an employee at fruit carts on Broadway for 13 years, most recently at 86th Street. Having developed a neighborhood following, he decided to go off on his own and purchased an existing cart on 90th and Broadway, whose previous owner planned to retire. “I get along well with my former boss, we are still friends,” Taskin told the Rag as he gave us some fresh pears. “But it was the time in my life for me to be my own boss. I am happy to see my customers from 86th Street.” Taskin is in the process of opening a business account so that he can officially name the cart after his 6-year-old son, Ruzgar. Taskin works from 7 a.m.- 7 p.m., six days a week (the cart is closed on Sundays.) He receives fresh produce each morning from Hunts Point. “Taskin has the best fruit, veggies and special items — this week white strawberries,” wrote tipster Joanna. “He’s such a good guy, and I’d like the neighborhood to know so they can support him in his new location.”
Crumbl Cookies, a bakery chain serving homemade cookies, is opening at 301 Columbus Ave (74th Street) on January 5th. HSBC bank was formerly in the space. Crumbl Cookies, which has over 600 stores nationwide, was founded by two cousins in Utah in 2017, while one attended Utah State University. They started with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and added a rotating menu of other flavors (sea salt toffee, peanut butter brittle, molton lava, pecan pie, orange roll, and classic pink sugar). The menu at Crumbl changes each week and is always a surprise. UWS franchise owner Seth Neeleman opened the first Crumbl Cookies in NYC on East 69th Street in October 2021. “People lined up down the block in the rain on opening day,” he told West Side Rag on our visit to the Columbus Avenue space. Neeleman, an Upper West Sider, is excited to open Crumbl near his home. “This is an awesome location,” Neeleman told the Rag. “It is a family-oriented neighborhood, and we are near the American Museum of Natural History and Central Park.” All cookies sold in the UWS store will be baked on premises. Store hours will be Mondays – Thursdays, 8 a.m. – 10 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. until midnight. The bakery will be closed on Sundays.
Poke Doke, a poke bowl and bubble tea cafe, has opened at 200 West 106th Street, at Amsterdam Avenue. It is owned by husband and wife team Jason Zhou and Ting Cao. “We both love poke bowls and eat a lot of them,” Cao told West Side Rag in a phone call. “My husband was formerly the manager of three different bubble tea shops and we came up with the idea to combine poke bowls with bubble tea.” Cao, a graphic designer, painted the mural outside the cafe and developed the logo. Poke Doke sells a variety of Poke bowls including; spicy tuna, salmon, sesame chicken, tofu and shrimp. The bubble tea menu is divided into fruit- and milk-based teas. Poke Doke also offers takeout and delivery. “The neighbors have all been very friendly and supportive,” Cao told the Rag. (Thanks to Godwyn for the tip.)
Coco-Mat, at 2600 Broadway (78th Street), will be closing on December 23rd. The company, whose motto is “sleep on nature,” sells mattresses, bed linens, headboards, pillows, and furniture made with natural materials. A clerk told West Side Rag that the Broadway location has been experiencing theft for some time, and that the neighborhood has “unfortunately not been ideal.” Management is planning to open a new location, possibly on the Upper East Side in the spring, the clerk said. Coco-Mat has two other stores in Manhattan: one on Lexington and 32nd Street, and the other in Soho on Broome Street. (Thanks to Gavan for the tip.)
Verizon on Broadway and 80th Street is moving in January directly across the street from the west side of the avenue to the east side. (Thanks to Lauren for the tip.)
Starbucks on the southeast corner of Broadway and 81st street, has reopened after being closed for a nine-month renovation project. “Tonight I was pleasantly surprised to see a newly renovated cafe that looks much more open and roomy inside,” wrote tipster Gretchen.
With VZ vacating the SW corner of 80th and Broadway, could we dream of H&H Bagels coming back?
The legendary H&H bagels is gone. The current ones bought the name.
Dirty secret: even the legendary ones weren’t that good
VZ is moving across the street because that building is being torn down. It will be replaced by a new condo (no surprise). So H&H will not be coming back to that location.
The continued darkening of Broadway. So sad. All of the land use lawyers who cobble together air rights to enable these awful projects are evil – they add no value to society. I am supportive of free market economics and measured growth to help the tax base but this is truly ridiculous.
Help.! Another endless and noisyconstruction project for a high rise building with overpriced condos. With all this administration’s chat about affordable housing – well, where is it?
Did WSR reformat it’s HTML code because this page looks a lot better now thanks.
Coco-Mat is a wonderful store and I have purchased products from them for years that I still enjoy. The best employees. A real loss for our neighborhood, but good for them that they’re moving to a much safer paradise (the Upper East Side).
If theft is happening all over the city, they could still have problems on the Upper East Side.
key food is opening 89th an d broadway!!!!! Hopefylly this does mean the other key foods nearby are closing
Yeah. I saw. Anyway am I imagining things or before that was Duane Reade, there was the Red Apple grocery store? Or was it caller Big Apple? And wasn’t there a Key Food on 91st and Broadway
Thanks so much for writing about Taskin Emali’s new Ruzgar fruit and vegetable cart on the Chase bank corner of 90th & Broadway. He’s a great, hard-working guy and always steers you straight on which products are good that day. Congrats to him on starting his own business!
Everyone shouldn’t just abandon the 86th Street location. They need our support too and there is plenty of business to go around (written by someone who lives closer to 86th Street).
Taskin is the best! I’ve been buying fruit from him on 86th St. for years. I am now walking up to 90th. He’s a great guy, gives good recommendations on which fruit/vegetables is tastiest that day and has a wonderful family!! He’s also just a nice guy! I’m so glad he started his own business. Let’s all support him.
A hearty THANK YOU for informing us that Taskin is doing well, and where to find him. We really miss him at 86 St and will definitely be walking up to 90th from now on to buy our veggies and fruit.
What’s the deal with “he purchased an existing cart on 90th and Broadway”? Do these guys actually own the free sidewalk? Is a street vendor permit tied to a specific location? This doesn’t sound fair to others who may want to get into the rent-free sidewalk food business.
It’s information readily available. Google is a friend.
Lol are you looking to get into the business?
Thank you for all this news! Lots happening!
Hi. Could anyone confirm that Taskin worked at the 86 Street fruit stand near Citibank? I love the quality of fruit at that stand. If so, I will gladly buy fruit from him on 90th St. Thanks.
Yup yup, it’s him from 86th street. Taskin and the produce/fruit at that stand rock. I walk 11 blocks to that site even though there are THREE others closer to me. Now I’ll be walking to 90th (it’s the SOUTHeast corner, not northeast as it states above) to continue to support Taskin.
Thank you. You are correct , Taskin is indeed on the southeast corner. Will fix!
So sad to see Coco -Mat closing. Especially sad due to the reason……. 78th & Broadway…. Due to recurring thefts, the neighborhood is not ideal. This speaks volumes to those of you who continue to deny the reality of what has happened to our once beautiful and lovely neighborhood.
I’m sorry to see another empty storefront on Broadway. But, given the nature of the business, there’s something a little off about the reason they say they’re leaving. Have thieves really been strolling out of the store with mattresses and headboards under their arms? :-s
snooze you lose. Should have stuck around to defend his territory, my boy Taskin is here to stay! Yehhhbudday
Hello, I am Taşkın’s wife my name is Ayla , first of all, I would like to thank the lady who wrote this article I love it 🤗 Taskin always wanted to opened his own business many years he worked for somebody and finally he opened ,also he can’t open fruit stand without a work permit, he paid for it and also these fruit tables are checked periodically by the Health department . I think these fruit tables are the colorful face of New York..
I was excited to buy a new bed from coco mat the price came out to nearly $19,000 . Astounding. I did not buy it of course. Perhaps their greed is why they did poorly in this neighborhood. People here have money but they aren’t suckers! Nobody was ever in there when I went by. Their prices are ridiculous.
I am a tiny bit skeptical of the Coco-Mat clerk’s explanation for their closing. I live right near that store and I literally walk by it multiple times a day — how about the fact that there’s almost never a single customer inside? Wonder if that could be contributing to the lack of success. I guess it sounds better to blame things on the neighborhood (?)
Yes! I walked by there today (as I often do) and wondered how anyone could steal anything in there. It’s small, always empty and the salesperson could easily keep an eye on any customers. I found that excuse for closing very fishy.
I’m not being funny or anything, but what can you steal from a mattress store?