Safta’s Coffee & Fine Foods, a market specializing in fresh Middle Eastern-inspired sweet and savory pastries, grab-and-go meals, and curated pantry items, is planning to open later this week at 2345 Broadway (on the southwest corner of West 86th Street). The wide-ranging menu will be kosher and includes bagels, sandwiches, wraps, and dinner entrées, as well as bourekas, focaccia, and challah prepared by specialty chefs. There will also be catering for Shabbat and Jewish holidays. “Safta,” meaning grandma in Hebrew, “is an endearing term. It’s supposed to make people feel like they’re home,” said owner Sonny Gindi, who also runs Fridges, a kosher market in Midtown, on a call with the Rag. The space used to be Francesca’s, a women’s clothing store that closed in 2020. Safta’s will have a freezer section offering everything from Eggo waffles to sambousek, a Syrian puff pastry, and there will be seating for about a dozen customers. “My goal is to have this to be like a community center for the people around us,” Gindi said. (Thanks to Ankita and Ben for the tips.)
Poppie Toys on the corner of Broadway and West 83rd Street will reopen in March by appointment only, and just one day a week (most likely Thursdays). It will remain in the space on a month-to-month basis, owner Carlijn Joosten told West Side Rag. Appointments can be made by texting her at 646-504-3537. She also plans to host special workshops for families in the store this spring.
Poppie Toys opened a pop-up in this location in November 2023 for the holiday season, selling toys and children’s furniture using the material rattan, a wooden weave. Joosten reached an agreement with the property’s landlord to extend her stay until the surrounding scaffolding came down. The scaffolding has been removed, but the agreement with the landlord is now ongoing until a permanent tenant is found, Joosten told the Rag. “We have a month-to-month agreement, and it is very generous of them to give me this opportunity. I am grateful for every extra month.” Joosten had temporarily closed the shop at the end of December. “I put in a lot of effort and hours but the revenue did not make it worth it. With the new concept of appointments and workshops for families coming soon, I hope to find a better balance,” she said. The space used to be a Bank of America.
Party City, the big box party supply store on the corner of West 92nd Street and Columbus, is planning to close. The store’s clearance sale is going on now, though there is no exact closing date, a store clerk said. Party City was in bankruptcy from January 2023 to September of that year, and in late 2024 it was reported that the New Jersey-based company would be closing all its stores after nearly 40 years in business. “We’ve been operating in an immensely challenging environment with inflationary pressures on both costs and consumer spending, and while we did everything we could to navigate these headwinds, our very best efforts were ultimately not enough to overcome these challenges,” reads a letter from management posted on the company’s website. This location on the UWS opened in 2015. Party City, which has stores across the country, has one other location in Manhattan on West 14th Street.
Marinara Pizza, at 2578 Broadway (between West 97th and 98th streets) will reopen “this week” according to a clerk from the Amsterdam Avenue location. The pizza shop opened at this location in the summer of 2023 but has been closed for over a year. During that time, a notice from ConEd was posted on the storefront indicating that the gas supply had been shut off. Marinara has a few pizza shops in New York City, including one on the UWS at West 83rd Street and Amsterdam. (Thanks to Marlene for the tip.)
Aperture, the photography foundation that’s moving its headquarters from Chelsea to 380 Columbus Avenue (between West 78th and 79th streets), has updated the expected timeframe for its opening to this fall, a representative confirmed to WSR. As previously reported by the Rag, Aperture held its groundbreaking at the site last April and had planned to open in early 2025. Once completed, the space will have a mix of offices and public space, including flexible spaces for programming, a bookstore, and production areas for the organization’s publishing operations.
Stunning Body Work, a spa, opened on February 10th at 162 West 72nd Street (between Amsterdam and Columbus). Services include body massages, chair massages, foot soaks, traditional foot reflexology, and herbal and sea salt foot baths. The spa offers deep tissue and hot stone massages as well as deep cleaning facials. Discounted pricing is available for customers paying in cash. The space used to be Gartner’s Hardware, which moved to a larger space across the street (121 West 72nd Street) last summer.
ICYMI: Bagels & Cream is “coming soon” to 926 Amsterdam (between West 105th and 106th streets). The cafe will have bagels, fish, sandwiches, and schmears (fortunately, not “schemers”). The new shop marks a return to the UWS – the same family owned 72nd Street Bagel, which closed in 2016 after more than 10 years in the neighborhood. They also have another location in the Bronx. (Thanks to Steven for the tip.)
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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I am excited about Saftas. I had seen the beautiful pictures of rugeladh on the corner of Broadway and 86th. Cannot wait.
It’s good to see the “Opening and Closings” column contain mostly openings. I’m especially looking forward to trying Safta’s. Now if only something would happen at the dead northeast corner of 86th and Columbus, where the former coffee shop and the yawning space of the former bank have been vacant for years.
It looks like there’s also a boutique gym opening on the West side of Broadway between 81st and 82nd. Any info on that one?
Spear is its name
I wish Aperture would open its aperture already!
I can’t really say what the quality of a Marinara pizza slice will be once they reopen . I only know that because they’re on my block I went in there soon after they opened, discovered that they were charging $4 a slice when the average slice in 2022 or 2023 was just under $3. That made me look elsewhere as the one that I bought was very meh… I know things have gone up again since then but the place that was there before that– Viva Pizza –had pizza that was worth the price, so I’m sure it too is under the $4 mark. When I was growing up we used to joke that the price of a token for the New York City Subways was the same as the price of a slice of pizza but that piece of New York folklore has gone the way of the 🦕🦕🦕
I wasn’t crazy about it either when it opened the first time. I really wish that the Marinara on 97th mirrored the quality of the one on 83rd and Columbus. Floppy flimsy pizza twice from the re-opened location. Too bad.
Yeah, I too was disappointed. Only went once. I also live on 97th St. But now they’re opening another pizza place at the former Krispy Kreme.
Sooooo excited for Safta’s! Yay!
Very sadly, Empellon Taqueria in Waterline Square has closed. They opened with a huge bang during COVID, had a ton of momentum early, and then just messed with the concept and the menu too much. Looking forward to what fills the space, but we’ll miss it very much. Harry’s Table, just across the park, remains fantastic and seems to be extremely popular!!!!
Party City is a good resource for supplies, including some basic costuming; how to save the Manhattan stores?
Safta’s has a bunch of reviews already and half of them have the same last name as the owner.
Has anyone not connected to them visited and share are there opinion? I walked by recently and it seemed empty. Why would a cafe and bakery devote so much space to things like frozen waffles and vegetables?