Openings & Closings: Capital One Café; The Chelsea House; Marine Layer; Qahwah House; Starbucks Coffee; Shake Shack; Flower Shop

By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava

Capital One Café, a café and co-working space operated by the large banking chain, is opening at the corner of 60th Street and Broadway. While you don’t need to bank with Capital One to visit the space, cardholders get discounts on the menu, which includes coffee from Verve Coffee Roasters. The café will be staffed with “Café Ambassadors” and “Money & Life Mentors” to answer customers’ financial questions, but the website promises a “sales-free environment.” Capital One has cafés across the country, including two already in New York City, at East 59th Street and Lexington Avenue and Herald Square. The Upper West Side location is on the ground floor of Anagram, a new luxury tower. (Thanks to the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District for the tip.)

The Chelsea House, the seafood, grill, and cocktail restaurant at 710 Amsterdam (between 94th and 95th streets), has closed. There is a notice on the storefront posted by the City Marshal stating that the landlord has filed a claim against Chelsea House and has taken legal possession of the premises. Chelsea House’s original location downtown on 24th Street and 9th Avenue remains open but the Upper West Side location, which opened in fall 2022, is no longer on the company’s website.

Marine Layer, a clothing store known for casual, comfortable apparel “for a seven-day weekend,” is opening on Friday, March 15, at 420 Columbus Avenue (between West 80th and 81st Streets). Rituals, the skincare and cosmetics shop, which closed in spring 2022, was previously in the space. Marine Layer has approximately 50 stores nationwide and had a West Side store lower down on Columbus Avenue (between 69th and 70th) since 2019. That location closed in January when the lease was up and preparations to move to the new spot higher on Columbus were immediately underway. Customers may stop by the store to purchase a “RE-SPUN Take Back Bag” (cost is $20) as part of their “improved program where we will recycle your old stuff and provide you with a store credit,” Jen Sanford, the New York area manager told West Side Rag. Marine Layer recycles the donated clothing to make new clothing using the material, Sanford explained. “Anything that cannot be used for clothing will be used for another purpose.” Hours will be 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday, closing an hour earlier on Sundays. “The space is beautiful,” Sanford told WSR. “I can’t wait to meet all of our new customers and am hopeful that our customers from 70th Street will make the journey 10 blocks north to visit us.”

Qahwah House, a Michigan-based business serving Yemeni coffee is opening on Broadway between West 111th and 112th Streets. They serve coffee and tea shipped from farms in Yemen as well as Yemeni pastries, the manager of the West Village location told the Rag. With stores in the West Village and Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the company is expanding and opening more locations nationwide. Their top seller is a chai tea, the West Village manager said. They serve lattes with Yemeni spices — ginger cardamom, cinnamon, and honey. Shaking Crab was formerly in the space. (Thanks to David and Tracy for the tips.)

The Starbucks on the corner of 73rd Street and Columbus has re-opened after being temporarily closed for a few days to fix a broken pipe in the basement, according to a barista working there. Two other Starbucks locations nearby still have signs posted saying they are temporarily closed – 81st and Columbus has been closed since August 2023 and 63rd and Broadway since February 2024. The Starbucks at the corner of 75th and Broadway is expected to re-open in the fall after a renovation. 

We can’t provide the exact timing, but Shake Shack is coming to The Shops at Columbus Circle (West 59th Street). This will be the second location on the Upper West Side for restaurateur Danny Meyer’s international chain, which famously started as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park in 2001 as an effort to revitalize the area. The location at 77th and Columbus, across the street from the American Museum of Natural History, opened in 2008 and quickly became a popular spot for both locals and tourists visiting AMNH. There’s also a Morningside Heights location on West 116th Street and Broadway. (Thanks to the Lincoln Square Business Improvement District for the tip.) 

A new flower shop is rumored to have opened on West 86th Street just east of Columbus Avenue. The space was previously home to another flower shop, Flowers on the Park, which is still located in the neighborhood at 520 Amsterdam (85th Street). We’ll post an update when we have more information. (Thanks to Linda for the tip.)

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