By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
The New York Sports Club at 248 West 80th Street (between Broadway and West End Avenue) is closing on March 5th. A message to members cites the reason for the closing as the “property owner’s long-term plans for the building.” A representative wrote in a message to the Rag that “we were unable to come to a long-term agreement on this space with the landlord.” NYSC’s nearest gyms are on West 73rd and West 94th streets. Members can train there if they choose to opt into staying with the club (March dues will be waived, according to the message to members).
WSR readers might remember that this is the same building, 2331 Broadway, that has been the subject of a legal dispute between the Zabar and Friedland families, which bought the building together in 1979. Over the past couple of years, Verizon, FedEx, and Canine Styles have moved from the building to nearby locations in the neighborhood. To read the Rag’s coverage of the dispute over the building click – HERE. (Thanks to the many tipsters who contacted the Rag.)
Big Gay Ice Cream, at 516 Columbus Avenue (between West 84th and 85th streets), closed on January 29th. “The ice cream business is not a good business to be in on the Upper West Side in the middle of the winter,” Jeremy Wladis, owner of The Restaurant Group (including Fred’s, Telio’s, Nina’s Great Burrito Bar, Good Enough to Eat, among others) told the Rag on a phone call. Wladis has been running the ice cream shop since 2022 when he took over the lease and licensed the name after the owners, who went bankrupt, were evicted. Big Gay Ice Cream was founded as a food truck in the West Village in 2009 by Douglas Quint and Bryan Petroff. At one point there were nine Big Gay Ice Cream shops throughout NYC. Wladis also added a build-your-own donut bar to the shop called Rainbow Donuts in 2023. “I really did not want to close, but the rent is very high, it goes up every year, and they did not want to negotiate,” he told the Rag. “It is sad, because this was the last operating Big Gay Ice Cream store.” Wladis says he offered positions at his other restaurants to the shop’s employees.
Nai Brother Sauerkraut Fish, a Chinese restaurant, has signage up on Broadway between West 108th and 109th streets. The menu has a variety of fish soups – the “classic” is a spicy and sour dish with pickled mustard greens, hot peppers, and vegetables – and Xiaofang, which is similar to boba tea. Nai Brother has two other locations in NYC. The space used to be a sales gallery for the Rockwell, a luxury apartment building. (Thanks to Tracy for the tip.)
EA Dumpling at 201 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 69th and 70th streets) permanently closed earlier this month, a representative confirmed to West Side Rag. They did not tell us the reason for the closing. The dumpling shop opened this UWS location in April last year and has two other NYC locations – in Midtown East and at East 34th Street and Lexington Avenue.
The Halal Guys, a gyro and chicken restaurant at 720 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 95th and 96th streets), has closed. The business started as a food cart in 1990 and now has restaurants across the country. This UWS location opened in 2014. The remaining locations in Manhattan are in Midtown and on East 14th Street. (Thanks to Nicole for the tip.)
Laina Jane, a lingerie and sleepwear store at 416 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 79th and 80th streets), closed in January. Laina Jane opened its first store in Greenwich Village in 1988 and its UWS shop a few years later. “Thank you for letting us be part of the UWS community for the last three decades,” reads a sign posted on the storefront. The shop in the West Village is still open and will honor store credits or returns.
Goods for the Study, a stationery shop, opened at 2109 Broadway (between West 73rd and West 74th streets), on Thursday, January 30th. This is the third NYC location for the store (others are in Nolita and the West Village). Goods for the Study sells journals, calendars, greeting cards, fountain pens, ink, “knick knacks,” and desk accessories. It is owned by Sarah McNally, who founded McNally Jackson bookstores, which has five locations in NYC. (Thanks to Tessie for the tip.)
ICYMI: Jacob’s Pickles, the popular comfort-food restaurant at 509 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 84th and 85th streets), is expected to open at its new, larger location at 688 Columbus Avenue (93rd-94th) in March or April. Replacing it in the current space will be Velvet Cowboy, a Western-themed bar under the same ownership, Jacob Hadjigeorgis. Hadjigeorgis is also behind the UWS establishments Maison Pickle and Tiki Chick.
The Flowery, a legal cannabis dispensary, has opened at 2465 Broadway (between West 91st and 92nd streets). This is the Upper West Side’s third legal weed shop and The Flowery’s fifth location in NYC. The space used to be a SoulCycle.
The Openings & Closings column wouldn’t be possible without our many tipsters: thank you! Anyone can send tips about openings and closings in the neighborhood to info@westsiderag.com
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Windows papered and looks like work already underway in Halal Guys storefront. Hopefully something will be moving in there soon.
I have fond memories of that NYSC on 80th & Broadway as I used to work out there regularly. There used to be H&H Bagels on the ground floor.
I liked going there because the gym used to smell like bagels instead of sweat. After my workout I would often buy bagels downstairs and regain whatever calories I just lost.
Anywho, sorry to see that location close.
I tell those stories often. Work up upstairs after work then go down and get a fresh, hot bagel while standing on the sawdust floor. The hot salt bagel would melt a hole in the brown paper bag during my walk 8 blocks uptown. Yum. Miss the real H&H so much.
LOL. I did the exact same thing. I went there regularly about 20 years ago. At the time a bagel was about a dollar so I would bring a dollar bill with me and get a bagel after I worked out.
That’s the same reason why I never became a regular there. The smell of bagels used to make me crazy. I once bought two bagels and ate them after a strenuous workout.
I used to go to another NYSC on 23rd and Park Ave that had a burger shop on the ground floor. Same problem LOL!
As a longtime, former member (and back in the ’80s, an employee!) of NYSC, that 80th Street location was long overdue for shutdown. Is it just me, or is the NYC gym-culture vibe simply not what it used to be?
It went in a different direction when NYSC offered Silver Sneaker memberships for free to seniors.
Halal Guys was good for a while but then a whole lot of places serving the same food but better opened nearby.
Where? Where else in the neighborhood (UWS 90s) can we get similar food?
Naya. Zurna. Zaad. Halal Chicks. Moshes. Shawarma Shabazi is a new one in the 90s. I live up the street from Halal Guys and I go to Mamoun’s. Not in the 90s but much better. Worth the walk.
Several Halal food carts up and down Broadway
The UWS DESPERATELY needs more gyms.
The closing of NYSC on West 80th will leave a massive gap. The few gyms left in the 70s and 80s are already PACKED every day – and only 1 or 2 are affordable (albeit run-down and uninspiring). Not good, not good.
..And the classes are pathetic now at NYSC .. in NYC Very lame!! I go all the way out to NYSC in Rego Park to get challenging classes with a fabulous teacher there.. You can only book 48 hours in advance and the classes are full within 10 minutes of becoming available. …. Sad.
I’ve been saying the same thing for years! The classes are barely challenging. And too short! And the fitness directors are too lazy to care/change.
Completely agree! Why are there so few gyms on the UWS, anyway?
One reason may be the growing number of co-ops and condos that have gyms in the building for their residents. They are cheaper to join, obviously more convenient, and allow personal trainers to come to the gym to work with their members.
And similarly, a lot of people have Peletons which don’t take up a ton of space and don’t require a walk in the cold to the gym in the winter time.
Though I guess this doesn’t answer the question of why the existing gyms are packed.
I’d much rather take a quick walk in the cold for a gym class filled with people than walk solo on a Peleton or do virtual training via Zoom and YouTube. A live community and good teacher encourage exercising, sustained stamina, and safe movements. Finally, meeting others and developing new friendships is just as much part of gym life as body health.
Also people do virtual training at home since COVID
Really bummed about Halal Guys and surprised. It seemed fairly busy.
Man. I really liked Halal Guys but I stopped going there since early in the pandemic, I would sometimes get takeout there and the person making my food had her make half of. And I was torn because wearing a mask all day inside could not be fun. But close space……So that was it.
Also. Yesterday I met someone who knows the owner of another business inside the same building as the W 80th NYSC.. She said the building is being is going to be town down. Don’t know how true that is.
Stores and restaurants keep closing in the 80’s and new ones are not popping up. Trying to stay positive about things improving, but it feels like this area of the UWS is getting worse.
Oh, and I’ll mourn Big Gay Ice Cream just a little. I was never a big fan of their style of ice cream, and the donuts were just OK. But oh my, those cookies they’ve been selling there for the last few months were really delightful. Here’s hoping they migrate across to the baked goods sold across the street at Good Enough to Eat (same owners), if they haven’t already. Also, I love(d) that rainbow bench outside the store and all the happy families eating ice cream on it; was a nice little spot in the neighborhood.
Upper West Side becoming a new place to stock up on Asian delicacies was not on My Bingo card.
When Halal Cajun Platters was launched I thought it was the ultimate in head-scratching restaurant names. But Sauerkraut Fish has it beat by a mile.
“the “classic” is a spicy and sour dish with pickled mustard greens, hot peppers, and vegetables”
While I haven’t had this dish here, I’ve had it at other Chinese restaurants around town, and, if you like sour, it is quite tasty. Also (I think/hope!) fairly good for you, as it’s mostly lean fish protein and veggies.
So I guess BareBurger will close also on Broadway.
This gym closing will bring more people to the Broadway and 94th street location. Between that and the new year resolutioneers (as I call them) it will be difficult to get a treadmill.
Well, as long as I can still get Halal Guys somewhere. The day that changes, I’m outta here! (Please don’t go away, I love you. 🙏)
Does anyone know if Velvet Cowboy will have two step dancing/lessons? If so, Giddy Up! Yeehaw! Sign me up!!!!
Wonder if the free sidewalk dining structure is still up since it’s same owner
The multiple responses here are all about food! ? .. I truly/sadly believe the people living on the UWS today are totally different from earlier days .. 80’s 90’s plus ,when we were all fit and healthy and… Taking classes at NYSC @ 80th Broadway was essential to our health and enthusiasm and excitement regarding living in this amazing neighborhood where we connected with each other in bars and enjoyed the fabulous jazz / music establishments in the area! Oh well.. Times change!
In the 80s, you were all smoking and enjoying three martini lunches!
I’ve gone to this location of New York Sports Club since it opened around 1990. Formerly, a lot of us went to the Pumping Iron Gym underneath the Promenade Theater in the 1980s. (That space later became a New York Sports Club for a few years.).
While the 80th Street location was always somewhat limited in equipment, it was a good, basic gym, convenient and well-located to the subway and buses. Hundreds of regular members, some going every day.
Best of all were the picture windows overlooking Broadway. I think I’ll miss the street views most of all.
Farewell and thanks.
EA dumplings were terrible
Ugh, so sad. So many closings.
Have you seen how many empty stores are still vacant after years and now all these closings? Does anyone finally say NY is doing something wrong? It’s the rents but it is also the INSANE amount of taxes and anti-business atmosphere from most if not all the politicians. They wave a magic wand and make up laws and requirements that small businesses can’t afford – without knowing and trying to know the effects. ust letting you all know that this city and state could not be any more anti-small business than it is now. With the worst quality of life issues discouraging people to walk the sidewalks.
Ask if your favorite stores are thinking of leaving. Yes, you’ll get some new stores try and make it but let’s see how long they last. You want a good small business strong economy? Tell your elected officials to start supporting businesses instead of adding more and more burdens and laws when many businesses have said enough is enough.
agreed. the lawmakers think everyone is an amazon or cell phone firm with unlimited funds
Perfectly said – NYC is super small business unfriendly. They treat the small restaurant owner and small store owner as the enemy to tax, fee, fine and permit them to death. The way the real estate taxes have gone up every year by such large amounts has also made restaurant prices ridiculous as well since the retail tenant often has to pay 30 to 50 percent of the tax increase. Its getting to unsustainable levels that will cause more and more business failures.
I’m upset that New York Sports Club is closing its 80th Street branch. Their 73rd Street location is in a basement and a kind of depressing space. They closed West 62nd and West 76th years ago.
Walking up to 94th is too long a trek, though it’s a pleasant space.
There’s nothing better than walking on a treadmill on West 80th and looking over busy Broadway, watching shoppers going in and out of Zabars, people on benches in Broadway’s medium — the buzz and life of the Upper West Side.
I sincerely hope New York Sports Club opens another branch in the immediate area, and soon!
Halal Guys is going to be Shah’s Halal. Same food different company. I guess we’ll find out which one is better. My money is on Shah.
The New York Sports Club on 80th Street has been the lifeline of so many seniors in the Upper Westside, especially coming out of the pandemic. There is a community there. It is not jampacked and there is light coming in, unlike the other gyms. I will miss it immensely.
NYSC on 94th is terrible. My boyfriend saw an orgy happening in the steam room when he was about to leave in the last 15 of it closing. He saw two men guarding the steam room. The staff were not really that shocked by it, more of a “oh man, not again”. Needless to say he’s no longer a member but can’t find a better gym in the upper upper west side—mond you somewhat affordable.
The machines are already maxed out at most given times of the day. The women’s sauna is consistently broken. The staff are always on there phones. A number of the machines are broken. There’s only 4 slots of stretching spaces. I saw a dead roach in the women’s locker room water fountain. There’s a woman who walks around barefoot in both the gym area and locker room, and when showering keeps the curtain open (and sometimes sticks her butt out of it??).
If you join NYSC please advocate for better services. The price does not reflect the level of quality.