By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
Olde Good Things, the antique store at 2420 Broadway (between West 89th and 90th streets), is closing on November 30th. They are consolidating with their existing shop at 333 West 52nd Street. “It’s a large space and at this point it makes more sense for us to have one shop in Manhattan,” a representative told West Side Rag. They are having a sale of 20% to 40% off until closing. “Items are flying off the shelves quickly,” the representative said.
Olde Good Things started in 1995 with a small flea market space in the 26th Street Chelsea Antique Market, and now is one of the largest architectural antique dealers in the country, according to information posted on the company’s website. Its inventory is sourced largely from pre-depression and late nineteenth century buildings, including the Flatiron Building, The New York Times Building, and The Plaza Hotel. Olde Good Things opened this UWS location in 2018. Before that it had one on Columbus Avenue in the West 80s. In addition to the Midtown location, Olde Good Things also has spaces in Los Angeles and Scranton, PA. (Thanks to Adam and Nancy for the tips.)
Max Wax NYC, a hair-waxing salon at 167 West 74th Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues on the second floor), closed on September 27th after operating for 21 years in the space. “We thank you for your patronage, allowing us to get to know you and your families and for being kind, smart, funny, generous, and loyal,” the company wrote on its website. They did not respond to the Rag’s questions about the closing. It was the first all-waxing salon in NYC, according to the company’s Instagram bio.
NYU Langone Health has signage up at the corner of West 67th Street and Broadway, indicating that this facility is expected to open in 2026. It is planned to be used as a medical practice and imaging center, a representative wrote to the Rag last year. (The Rag’s recent requests for updates weren’t returned.) The 28,000 square-foot space used to be Gracious Home, which closed in 2016 after 18 years at the location.
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Ugh. So many closings.
Two, in fact
Another huge vacancy for the new “blight” that is 90th-94th street.
I always wondered how Olde Good Things stayed in business…They do have unusual things, but it is so overpriced and impractical. I think it is owned by a Christain organization.
Olde Good Things is associated with a cult called Church of Bible Understanding, which exploits the store’s workers and has been responsible for the deaths of Haitian orphans in church-run orphanages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_Bible_Understanding
I shop there and have bought some wonderful pieces from them. The store workers work of their of their own volition. They seem quite happy to me. I would check other sources than Wiki. The Church has a four star rating on Charity Navigator. Besides, Haiti is a major mess all the way around. Apparently, there was a fire in an orphanage. None of it has anything to do with architectural salvage, either. I am perfectly happy to locate interesting pieces there.
wow, I didn’t know! Thank you for the information!
Wow…I had no idea. Thanks for the information. Sounds like a topic for 60 Minutes.
Finally something is opening in the old Gracious Home space.
How I miss that store!
Happy to see an NYU Langone medical suite opening on the UWS.
There is already bunch of Columbia and Mount Sinai offices.
Back in the day wasn’t the Olde Good Things space a savings bank that used the beehive as its logo? My mom had an account there, but I cannot remember the bank’s name.
New York Savings Bank
Thanks very much! 🙂
Great having a Langone center in the nabe.
Instead of counting empty storefronts, it could be interesting to learn how many hospital-system offices (including urgent care) are on the UWS from say, 60-110 street. (Pick your borders)
Oh, sad to hear about the Olde Good Things closing. Helped a friend choose old door knobs and other stuff there, and have brought guests and tourists and unaware-New-Yorkers there to delightfully discover things we didn’t know . Now, what’s to be done about the lion and the crocodile?we ‘needed’. (Editing: I’ve learned some things in the comments that may change my mind about the store … which won’t change the experiences I had there in the past, buy may well make me less sad it is closing…)
The only bank on 89-90th street Broadway was on the corner of 90 th st
going back to 1958
NY & Suburban Federal Savings & Loan, Anchor Bank, Dime, Dime-Anchor, Chase, Washington Mutual, currently Chase again
I could’ve sworn the Washington Mutual was on 91st street, no?
There used to be a bank on 91st & Bway NE corner years ago before Washington Mutual was in existence. Dont remember name, but for some reason Republic Bank comes to mind.
CHEMICAL BANK PRECEDED BY CORN EXCHANGE. 90TH AND Broadway.
Nice spot for a large weed store with smoking rooms.
Good Olde Things, first on Brooklyn’s Atlantic Ave. When Red Hook warehouse became too small, moved inventory to Scranton, PA.
Happy, very happy, Langone is opening on the West Side.
NYU/Langone is expanding urgent/ambulatory care offerings all over city. Called “Care On Demand” they’ve recently opened a new space on UES at 83rd and down in West Village on Hudson Street.
https://nypost.com/2024/09/04/business/nyu-langone-launches-care-on-demand-at-new-walk-in-clinics/
https://patch.com/new-york/upper-east-side-nyc/new-care-demand-clinic-now-open-ues
CityMD may have started things but nearly all major hospital/healthcare systems are opening or expanding ambulatory care and other clinic offerings, this while major full service hospitals are closing. Mount Sinai is closing Beth Israel in East Village for instance.
So far this model seems to have worked out well. Despite all the moaning and wailing when St. Vincent’s hospital in Greenwich Village closed that Lenox Hill “South” urgent care located on portion of St. V’s old campus has proven more than adequate for area’s healthcare needs.
Same can be said for Cobble Hill where NYU/Langone’s urgent care replaced Long Island College Hospital.
I live in Brooklyn and it seems like NYU has a building on every other block. Several of my doctors are very unhappy that NYC took over Lutheran’s because NYU has more or less taken over their practices by dictating how they are run. At least 2 of my doctors have left to go to SIU and Maimo. In my own experience, I feels as if you are on a assembly line in the ER It is almost impossible to get a doctor on a phone. I am not at all happy seeing those purple billboards all over.
Will wrote:
“There is already bunch of Columbia and Mount Sinai offices.”
Back in day some people complained there were too many hospitals. Now you have tons of urgent/ambulatory care clinics which offer healthcare systems ability to compete for patients without cost of having a full service hospital.
There remains only a handful of full service private hospital/healthcare systems in NYC.
Mount Sinai
Columbia Presbyterian/New York Hospital
NYU/Langone
Northwell
Virtually all or most private hospitals in NYC are either owned or affiliated with one of above.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hospitals_in_Queens#Hospitals
re Olde Good Things:
Oh, good heavens! Yet another huge empty storefront on Broadway. Regardless of its usefulness to the community, at least it was occupied and offered pleasing window displays. This is really blighting an extensive stretch of the UWS.
Too sad and troubling.
Cookie wrote:
“I live in Brooklyn and it seems like NYU has a building on every other block. Several of my doctors are very unhappy that NYC took over Lutheran’s because NYU ….”
Lutheran Hospital like nearly every other community or even municipal hospital in Brooklyn was in dire shape financially and in other metrics such as patient outcomes. Same forces that shut St. Vincent’s, Long Island College Hospital, and others were at work in Brooklyn.
Then governor Andrew Cuomo along with others in NYS government told/pushed various Brooklyn hospitals to sort themselves out or….
Complicating matters was simple fact for all the new money moving out to Brooklyn people still traveled either into Manhattan or Long Island for care. This avoidance of local hospitals is what lead to St. Vincent’s and others closing.
Lutheran and NYU/Langone had a previous arrangement that they simply increased by former becoming wholly owned by latter. https://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20150721/HEALTH_CARE/150729959/nyu-langone-moves-ahead-with-lutheran-medical-center-merger
Large hospital/healthcare systems like NYU bring with them deep pockets of money desperately needed by community hospitals.
❝Too much change—feeling more like disintegration than progress.❞ —Marjorie Bellamy, ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’