By Gus Saltonstall
Silver Moon Bakery, the beloved Upper West Side spot for baked goods and breads, will close permanently later this month, its longtime owner Judith Norell wrote in an email to West Side Rag on Monday night.
The bakery at 2740 Broadway, near the corner of West 105th Street, will close for good on Sunday, March 23, according to Norell. The bakery has operated out of the Upper West Side storefront for 24 years.
Here is the full message sent to the Rag from Norell and co-owner Georgia Stamoulis:
“After 24 years, the owners, Judith Norell and Georgia Stamoulis, have decided not to fight the landlord’s refusal to extend the business’s lease. It is a sad day for Silver Moon and for the neighborhood, which welcomed the bakery’s opening on Nov. 8, 2000.
SMB became a gathering place, particularly notable on Sept. 11, 2001, when customers crowded into the tiny space, comforted by the smell of baking bread. People had found a safe place in which to feel community. Silver Moon will always be grateful for its 24 years of community support in its effort to create and sustain the highest standards of artisanal breads, pastries and cakes in a warm and friendly environment.”
The closure announcement comes almost two months after it was first reported that Silver Moon Bakery was facing eviction for overstaying its lease agreement, according to a lawsuit earlier this year. Broadside Realty, the landlord of the bakery’s storefront, sued Silver Moon Bakery, claiming that the business owed it more than $200,000 in rent.
At the time of the lawsuit, Norell told the Rag that she did not want to get into the specifics of the claims in the suit, and that she would not discuss ongoing litigation. This case still remains ongoing.
We reached out to Norell for more specifics and will update this article with any additional information we learn.
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Is there anything we customers can do to save this?
Yes,
Pool your money, buy the building and open a bakery.
Other than that it is the owner’s right to do as they wish with their property.
Are you always rude, categorical and dogmatic in all of your comments?
Yes he is, but at least in this case he’s correct
Can we organize a protest in front of the storefront or landlord’s office?
It’s this type of mentality that drives me nuts. What would you be protesting….a property owner’s right to do what he wants with his property especially since the bakery was in serious rent arrears?
greed
What is the over/under on how long the space sits empty? Two years? Three years?
A smart landlord wouldn’t push out a long-term tenant unless they had a new tenant lined up. Some rent is greater than zero rent. But unfortunately, there are too many UWS landlords who aren’t that bright.
And we the residents pay for it with empty storefronts that become glorified homeless shelters.
This whole corner literally just entered out. Silvermoon, directly east Szecheun Gardens accross the street Shakespeare and Co. get ready for a dangerous corner where people “hang out.”
To make matters worse I heard a rumor a smoke shop is opening in vacant store front directly next to Silver Moon/north side of Silver Moon.
Something is up here… The building are either sold, going to be sold or there’s some other bizarre explanation. It doesn’t make sense.
This bit to the story is from the NYT in January:
[Norell, the owner] told The Times in 2015 that she had noticed a “for rent” sign in the window on Broadway and had called the landlord, Georgia Stamoulis, who offered to rent the space if Norell would let her be a partner in the bakery. Court documents from an unrelated 2008 case indicate that Broadside — the plaintiff in the case against Silver Moon — is controlled by Stamoulis, her two half siblings and another relative.
Stamoulis is both landlord and tenant? Sounds like a business decision to not pay the rent and then evict. #corrupt
My head hurts from this comment. What are you talking about?
Ouch, double whammy! I hadn’t noticed the sign on Shakespeare and Co. Man, it took our board about two years to fill that space after the clothing store closed. Maybe Silver Moon’s legal problems are too complicated to get involved with and maybe the owner would rather move on to other things, but I’ll try to bring it up with the board. It would be sweet (no pun intended) if we could work something out to have Silver Moon just move across the street.
Great idea, one can only hope. The Silver Moon existing now had to have a special floor installed beforehand which could sustain the oven (heat)
Though, someone mentioned commercial kitchen below and, now that I think about it, I don’t think there’s any possible way to run the ventilation they’d need for the ovens to that corner space.
At this point we are going to have a neighborhood solely filled with McDonald’s and Cane’s chicken establishments. What a horrid turn of events. The greed of landlords is killing this city. It happened in the West Village and now it’s happening here.
Please explain how the landlord is guilty of “greed”.
Silver Moon owed $200K in back rent and there was little chance it would be able to pay it off. The landlord is under no obligation to keep a tenant who can’t meet its rent obligations.
Furthermore, the building is the landlord’s property. They are entitled to do whatever they want with their property (as long as they are not in any violation of the law).
Landlords are for profit enterprises with their own expenses. Stop assuming they are charities who are obligated to keep a nonpaying tenant so you can buy a muffin.
On a personal note I’m sorry to see Silver Moon close. I’ve been there several times myself. However, 24 years is a long time. No business lasts forever.
Sounds like there is more to this story.
200k is not a trivial amount.
Do your homework, people. The absurd rent hike was in dispute. Silver Moon is a highly respectable business and held their rent in escrow as they disputed the hike.
They made way more than that in a week, especially holidays.
And yes Georgia and her family own the building. These 2 have not gotten along from before the place opened
The landlord greed is on the front end – the massive hikes in rent Silver Moon and so many others have faced.
You clearly have read nothing about the events leading up to this. Broadside was refusing to accept their rent after terminating their lease for no clear reason (I would assume animus because of the souring in business relations between Norell and the landlord, and the possibility of selling the whole building for high rise development). They didn’t “owe back rent,” they were paying rent that the owner was refusing to pocket.
But I’m sure you would rather get your muffins from a GoPuff deliverista you don’t tip, while the whole neighborhood around you turns into a wasteland with no community interaction outside the weed bodega. You’ve been there “several times”? I’ve been going there since I was a child. I’ve celebrated birthdays and sabbaths and lazy Sundays with their food. I learned to make change when my dad would send me there with a twenty dollar bill. Is there a place on the Upper West Side that will give your children these memories? Is there a place you would feel safe for them to walk to when it’s time to learn how to be a person in the world? Small businesses like these create communities. People who don’t recognize that should move to the suburbs where they don’t have to see the other people they clearly resent.
Do you even have any idea what you’re posting about? Silver Moon did not pay the landlord $200K which the landlord did not deposit. For starters, Silver Moon did not have $200K and even if it did pay the landlord this amount there is ZERO chance the landlord would not have deposited this money.
And the landlord owns this property and is entitled to do whatever it wants with this space. Once the lease expired the landlord was 100% justified in canceling this lease. This is enough of a “clear reason” to end the lease.
Since you’re so bothered by your childhood memories being shattered by this bakery closing perhaps you should buy this building from the landlord and charge Silver Moon a below market rent.
Suburbs are also communities, so your condescension and ridicule are not warranted.
literally all landlords are greedy.
I just moved from the West Village for this very reason! I’m devastated…
Can you please tell us who is the owner. Thanks
I believe the building owner is Michael Rose. https://nypost.com/2019/11/13/uws-landlord-caught-on-camera-scuffling-with-ny1-reporter-michael-herzenberg-slugging-another-man/
I will never again shop at Broadway Cellars, which Rose apparently owns.
Yes I was there and am in the video. TG I moved. What a vile creature.
I agree. I would love to know. They hide behind these company names like cowards.
It’s really none of your business. The owners don’t owe you any knowledge about them personally.
It doesn’t matter these buildings are coming down on this corner. The new development is going up. The excuse: “housing is needed” but it will be housing for the rich..
I suspect you’re right. It’s a small, low-rise building with a few unrented spaces.
“ Broadside Realty, the landlord of the bakery’s storefront……”
According to ACRIS, it is Broadside Realty Corporation see https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/BBLResult which has a Larchmont address if you click on the details
Broadside Realty
I wish they could reopen in the soon to be vacant spot of the Shakespeare & Co. at 105th and Broadway
I wish
Unlikely that there’s already a commercial kitchen buildout in a space that was previously a bookstore tho
Def not. That space started out life as a bank. The vault is still in the basement, which is sort of fun. I don’t have the first clue what it takes to build out a commercial kitchen or if it can even be done in a corner unit like that but it would sure be nice. I suppose you’d need significant exhaust capacity which would either have to go out through the facade or somehow get routed down, under the bodega, shoe store, and coffee shop, then back up to come out over the wine store.
What are the odds they are emptying the building to knock it down and replace it with a high rise luxury condos?
the creature that owns that building owns everything on that side facing broadway, and 3 buildings along west 106th. I doubt he is that clever to develop it as he took at a massive mortgage on it not too long ago. what he did with the money who knows.
Best hot challah!😢
My educated guest silver moon is in that small building, it will come down with the brownstone behind since closed Szechuan Garden. We’re going wind up with another new shiny development. Another condo !
Shiny new developments without masonry probably don’t require much inspection that requires scaffolding.
Considering the Landlord is (was?) a co-owner of the store per other reporting, there really is more here.
But based on the court papers posted in the previous reporting, they seem to have had a below market rent that basically covered the property taxes.
We’ll miss them, but sounds like the math didn’t work.
Unfortunate. Always a nice place to pop into for some treat or other as a pick me up. Excellent oatmeal cookies, brioche, and crusty breads. What kind of ANIMAL runs a bakery out of town?! Work with people but by all means keep them open, landlord.
I’d like to see if you have the same attitude if the property were yours. It’s very easy to criticize others’ behavior when you have no skin in the game. Calling the landlord an animal…..really?
“I’d like to see”
Mind ya business
This is a comment section, not your personal space.
I thought Georgia was the landlord? Georgia had a bakery, now closed, on 89th and Broadway (called Georgia’s). Judith and Georgia were partners. The NYT article said that Georgia was the landlord.
It’s a 2 story building…..it’ll be gone soon.
Heck yes, lets get a proper 10 story apartment there, this is NYC baby!
Ah yes, just what we need. More generic, ticky-tacky, buildings replacing the city’s history.
I agree that we don’t need generic and ticky tacky – but we do need more units of housing. More luxury housing may not be the most urgent priority – but more housing of any kind requires bigger buildings. That means some older smaller buildings have to go.
Noooooo
Per this article from the NYT, the landlord (Broadside) has been controlled by one of the co-owners of Silver Moon, so there’s certainly a super weird story behind the story.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/nyregion/silver-moon-bakery-eviction.html
Rent extractors gonna extract, right?
If the landlord is a co-owner of the bakery, does that mean they are extracting from…themselves?
this breaks my heart. Judith et al., your bakery was one of the reasons I moved to this neighborhood 21 years ago. It was a great-smelling, mood-altering, breakfast-satisfying part of my life for many years. Many thanks and well-wishes to the folks who worked there then (some of whom are still working there now).
They made our wedding cake. Sad.
What is going on that everything on 105th Street and 106th Street is closing? Are new buildings going up?
What’s going on in the Columbia area? First Absolute, then Macros’ Champion bike shop after ?30/40+ years. And now Silver Moon… I hope they find a new home for their Olive Rosemary loaf soon.
I’m saddened by this news.
This really isn’t Columbia and that is the problem. W 96- W 110 th isn’t really the UWS and isn’t really Columbia. It is no man’s zone.
It’s called Manhattan Valley
Simple answer is on both east and west sides of Manhattan north of 96th street isn’t such a scary place any longer.
At one time many would have considered north of West 96th a sort of no man’s land which was reflected in both commercial and residential asking rents.
About 110th going north is Columbia University territory, an entity that owns tons of property in area and seemingly always is on lookout for more.
Not too complicated. The landlord had a successful liquor store as a renter. Lease comes due, the landlord doesn’t renew and opens Broadway Cellars in its spot.
Now the lease for a successful bakery comes due, the landlord doesn’t renew the lease and may opt to open a new bakery in the same spot.
If that’s the play and you don’t like it, make it known and stop shopping at Broadway Cellar.
I think there’s more to the story than is being reported. Owing $200,000 in back rent is not a petty claim.
That’s a real tragedy. Aside from incredible delicious breads, it was wonderful to see a diverse team together creating a real community. Plus to see a smart woman like Judith build such a remarkable business as a second career was inspirational.
So sorry to read that your beautiful shop is closing. I remember reading about your humble begins and your contribution to the UWS. I hope you are able to find a new location in the neighborhood.
This loyal customer of decades is absolutely GUTTED. I wish a collective could finance the bakery’s move to another location (the old Lenny’s Bagels on Broadway and 98th Street!). I’d contribute!
I’m surprised another bagel shop didn’t immediately take over the Lenny’s spot. These multi-year vacancies are painful for the community.
I guess that’s the end of my Thursday morning pilgrimages. Every week since Covid descended, I have left the house early on Thursdays to reach Silver Moon when it opened and fill my shopping bag with a delicious loaf and some wonderful rolls. Sigh.
Robert Beck should paint a series from there before they close!
Someone please fix W 92-W110th. It is ghost town.
It’s really 92nd-106th. 106th and up in good- Fumo, Smoke, Ellington, H-Mart, Japanese Market coming soon, Amonia, etc.
As for 92-106th. Talk to your local council person. It’s pretty obvious what’s happened there.
Not to me – what happened?
Over saturation of supportive housing in the area, ignoring fair share laws. Creates a challenging environment for local businesses.
Given the overwhelming success of the business, one would think they would choose another location in the neighborhood to move to. Certainly they would be welcomed warmly wherever that would be and we customers who love all of their delicious goods would flock there. It’s disappointment to hear that there are no plans of that, at least as of now, and makes one wonder if there is a lot more to the story here that not being able to pay the rent.
I’m not sorry to see them go. I ordered a birthday cake from them once. When I went to pick it up they hadn’t made it. So they took one from the counter, squirted some sloppy lettering on it and sold it to me. When it was time to eat it we discovered it tasted like an abandoned refrigerator. Totally disgusting.
You are literally the only person I have ever heard say anything negative about this bakery in the quarter of a century it has been open. Everybody loves it and for good reason.
Yes, this sounds like a thing that really happened.
I’m of the age where almost all of my old haunts are gone or on their last legs. Not sure how I feel about all of that outside of severe nostalgia sometimes. We had some great times, epic evenings, and crazy nights however.
Things really started changing around 2014. It’s not your age, Thomas. Commercial rent in NYC’s due for a major correction, which will probably happen soon thanks to Trump’s tariffs.
Judith, you and your team will be greatly missed. Everything you offer is delicious and of the highest quality. I don’t know what I’ll do without my daily fix of your sourdough!
Just wondering, why don’t they lease the Absolute Bagels location (here is a landlord who might care, having lost a tenant suddenly due to other reasons). Win Win situation !
I think the Absolute space needs a lot of work to be up to code, not sure Silver Moon has the money to renovate another space
Does it occur to you that after so many years, she might not want to start all over and incur the substantial expense of redoing a new space? I don’t understand the hyperfocus on the Absolute Bagel location as if that’s the only space available on the UWS that lost a tenant.
That half block on Broadway between 104th and 105th is sitting on a ton of unused FAR.
Those low rise buildings including 2750 Broadway likely aren’t long for this world. Not in today’s NYC/Manhattan RE market anyway.
The dollar store closed. Absolute bagel closed. Garden of Eden closed. Malaysia grill closed. The Abbey pub closed. Nut box closed. CVS closed. And probably a bunch of other stores closed. Something is really wrong with Manhattan, and specifically this area around 104th Street and Broadway. Nothing can survive. Manhattan is nothing but fool’s Gold. It’s not a good place. We can’t even have a bakery. I will be leaving at some point.
If reopening in another location is not in the cards, I would be first in line to purchase a cookbook of Silver Moon recipes. What I would give to have another California breakfast bun, or a pancake using their recipe!
There is a lot of vacant space in the neighborhood. What about the former Cascabel Taqueria space? or even the Absolute Bagels space?