By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
The Shoe Tree, the longtime shoe store at 2876 Broadway (between West 111th and 112th streets), is closing this summer. The shop has been in the same location since 2007, run by co-owners Karen Dixon and her husband, Essam Moussa, who live in the neighborhood. Initially they sold only children’s shoes but expanded into adult sizes over the years as their customers grew up. On a call with the Rag, Dixon described their loyal customer base. “We’re getting letters from people saying, ‘My child took their first steps in your store, and now they’re going to college,’” she said.
Despite ongoing support of the community, Dixon said there hasn’t been enough business for the store to remain open. A big challenge has been online shopping; shoe brands that supply products to The Shoe Tree offer the same inventory on their own websites at lower prices than what Shoe Tree charges to cover its retail store costs. Rent isn’t driving the store to close, Dixon said, as the landlord, Columbia University, has been supportive. The store’s final day will be in June and there is a sale until then on all inventory (shoes, plus accessories such as socks and sunglasses) as well as the store’s fixtures. Dixon is unsure what the future holds but looks back fondly on the past 18 years. “It’s really been a family affair,” she said. “We’ve watched kids grow up. We know their names when they come in. Sometimes the kids just come by, walking by after school, just to stick their head in the door to wave and say ‘Hi.’”
Aura Yoga + Pilates is opening on May 12th at 239 West 72nd Street on the 2nd floor (between Broadway and West End). Owner Shannon McGinn has been a private yoga and pilates instructor and wellness coach for 10 years, working one-on-one with her clients at various studios or in their homes. “Aura is my love letter to the Upper West Side, the neighborhood I’ve called home for my entire adult life,” McGinn told West Side Rag. “I have traveled around the world, and the Upper West Side is home to me.” Aura has two studios – one for yoga and one for pilates – and will offer a variety of yoga classes and pilates mat classes (no equipment) as well as private sessions. Yoga offerings include powerful flow, dance-based yoga, and sound healing, among others.
There will be a membership program, class packages, and individual drop-in sessions. McGinn is offering an introductory package at $99 for three weeks of unlimited yoga and pilates classes plus one private session. “Aura is a big labor of love, an homage to the community that has made me the person I am today,” McGinn told the Rag. The studio has 12-foot ceilings, bay windows, a fireplace, and original moldings. “Every detail has been intentionally curated to feel warm, peaceful, and inspiring,” she said. McGinn plans to be open daily from 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Ashtanga Open Practice Yoga was formerly in the space.
Spice Lamb, a Chinese all-you-can-eat hot pot restaurant, opened on April 25th at 928 Amsterdam (between West 105th and 106th streets). The dining experience is interactive – customers choose the type of broth, vegetables, meat, and noodles that are included in their dish and then cook it directly on the table in front of them. While hot pot restaurants are common in Chinatown and Flushing, Queens, there are fewer options in Upper Manhattan, said Mike, a manager, on a call with the Rag. This location was chosen to cater to the large number of Chinese students at nearby Columbia University, he said, as well as to let the community “try something different [and] new.” The restaurant can be reached at (646) 984-8768. It replaces Miss Saigon, a Vietnamese restaurant.
Open Streets – the street fair-style event that gives pedestrians access to the roadway for dining, games, and activities for kids – returned to the Upper West Side this past weekend. The seasonal event happens on Sundays along Columbus Avenue from West 68th to 77th streets from noon to 7 p.m. It is organized by the Columbus Avenue Business Improvement District and will continue weekly through June 29th.
ICYMI: The American Folk Art Museum at 2 Lincoln Square (near the corner of Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street) is closing temporarily for its largest renovation in 30 years. The work includes: upgrading infrastructure, installing new mechanical and operations systems, expanding and renovating office space for museum staff, remodeling the public restrooms, and overhauling the gift shop. The public courtyard on West 66th Street will also receive a revamp. The museum’s exhibits, which have free admission, are expected to reopen toward the end of September.
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.
Subscribe to West Side Rag’s FREE email newsletter here. And you can Support the Rag here.
Organ Cleaners! (photo by Lisa Kava) Just what the old folks on the UWS need!
haha!🤣
The Shoe Tree has adult footwear? Sorry to learn this after the decision to close. I’ve walked past that store a kajillion times and never went in because the bright orange awning says “Childrens Shoes & Accessories” and the window display is full of toys.
I strongly dislike Open Streets! How do they improve local businesses? Don’t they take away from them? Am I an island of one with this opinion? An opinion which is firmly in place based on experience with the noise, the traffic, the challenge in figuring where to safely crossing the road, etc.
The Columbus Ave Business Improvement District is the sponsor of Open Streets, you can bet they aren’t putting this on if it doesn’t help local businesses!
I’m convinced the Open Streets online haters don’t actually visit, or they’d see how popular they are.
I pass by regularly as I live on the block. Nope, not much going on and looks silly and out of place.
And can you please stop with “haters” already?
I strongly enjoy Open Streets! Across all your metrics (noise, traffic, crossing the road), Open Streets are a FAR more enjoyable experience.
I’m confused how it could possibly be safer to cross the road with car traffic….
Anyone who hates Open Streets should vote for Cuomo because he’s obviously not a fan either and would probably kill it.
We love it, and the restaurants on a nice day are packed. NIMBY ‘s hate change.
You can’t just disagree with Rebecca without making it a slur?
It promotes loitering, not business. NIMBY has nothing to do with it. Go to the park if you want to loiter open spaces.
The restaurants are packed on weekends as it is, has nothing to do with Open Streets.
As far as calling people haters, please refrain from it just because you like something others don’t.
Open Streets are pathetic. “Activities for kids, games” ?! It is nothing but a completely empty road with some lone family following their kids on bicycles. There’s a beautiful park a block away, people!
This is nothing but a stupid bureaucracy, our leaders are too lazy and out of touch to revisit this outdated and completely useless event.
There’s no way you’ve been to the Columbus Open Streets if that’s what you think happens! It’s genuinely packed, there’s live music, pickleball and plenty of kids activities. It’s very pleasant & far better than car traffic.
I live off Columbus, I can’t avoid Open Streete even if I wanted to.
“Always packed and full of activities” – no, sparse tables and not much else.
If you hate car and bus traffic that much, then maybe you should reinvent yourself as “Saratoga Dad”
Don’t know what to tell you but I live just off the Open Street and it’s always packed. The anti-Open Street gaslighting is absurd…
Saratoga? I live in NYC precisely because its possible to get around without a car, no interest in becoming completely car dependent.
The proper name is “Closed Streets” because that is what it is. This topic has been discussed constantly here. People like seeing empty streets so they can occasionally frolic. Meanwhile there are two giant parks surrounding our neighborhood.
But some people are so selfish in their obsession with hating cars that they can’t see that the marginal benefit to them is far outweighed by the marginal cost to others through re-routed buses, more traffic on other streets (no, cars are not going to suddenly stop coming to the neighborhood because of this) and everything else.
I am OK with occasionally shutting down the streets for summer street fairs, which are a rich tradition in the neighborhood and do truly attract activity and human interaction. And maybe even do one of these “closed streets” events 2-3 times in a summer – see? I can compromise. But the way they are doing it is horrible.
Wouldn’t it be nice if street fairs would offer diversity, and something other than tube socks and mostly unhealthy food.
The streets are closed to cars and open to people. Are you a car Carlos?
The streets are closed to the buses and create unnecessary headache. They are open to a very few individuals who for some reason can’t make it to the park a block away at the expense of many.
Has nothing to do with cars, dear Emma.
I know it has nothing to do with cars. I’m saying it has everything to do with people who deserve to have more free space to walk around when the weather is nice in the summer. There are 8 million in the cities. Open street creates community and encourages people to be outside and go to local businesses.
Agree with you. It kills businesses in the closed areas and snarls traffic.
Yes the sponsor of Open Streets *checks notes* the Business Improvement District clearly is doing this to kill area businesses /s
You are definitely not an island of one. I so dislike this pointless exercise which makes our neighborhood less habitable, not more.
Sipsteria on 98 and Amsterdam opened on May 5th coffee + wine bar
Open Streets when there was a street fair on the northbound lane of broadway and the 5 borough bike tour….. really? And it was raining…. why can’t this be at the very least a decision made based on other events happening in the vicinity and the weather….. the traffic snarl on 77th and columbus and the one on 79 and amseterdam ave was an absolute disaster…. still cannot fathom as to why this is needed in this neighborhood when there is Central park on block east and riverside park a few blocks west! Why do people think this is such a great idea? It is killing the ability who need public transportation (bus) to get around, ambulances and other emergency vehicles….. additionally if all people do is walk in the street and NOT on the sidewalk how is this helping small businesses if no one is “window” shopping”?
Right on!
The shoe tree closing breaks my heart. All of my kids got their first shoes from the store. The owner is a sweetheart … very kind and patient. Losing the business here means losing part of my family’s childhood. It’s sad. Just sad.
Open streets is the best! Wish they didn’t pause it during mid-summer.
Let the Open Streets whining begin!
The DOT has published data demonstrating that restaurants and bars experience higher sales growth and a higher percentage that remain open in areas with open streets compared to those without. So I’m not sure this should be framed as an issue for the businesses.
While there are parks close by, reclaiming public space for everyone to use as opposed to single use by vehicles (predominantly for use by those that are wealthy enough to own a vehicle) seems like an admirable goal. This is especially helpful for those with small children – to allow them open space to play and prevent strollers from crowding the sometimes narrow sidewalks. But all community members can benefit from being able to sit outside and enjoy the decreased noise from vehicles. (This seems to benefit the same individuals that you’re concerned about not being and to take the bus – since they may not be able to walk to the park, but could likely walk downstairs to an open street.)
As far as traffic, the problem is the vehicles not the open streets. More pain points in using your personal vehicle will hopefully encourage people to walk or use transit instead, which will ultimately decrease traffic issues.
On the concern of crossing the street safely, you’re suggesting that crossing in car traffic is more safe than with open streets?! I can’t understand that logic.
I agree that thought should be put into how this affects those using public transit – especially the buses since they serve those that may not be able to go up and down the subway steps (a definite problem when there’s no elevator service). I would think that those considerations are part of planning for special events like the bike tour and the street fair as opposed to the ongoing community events like open streets, but most of us are probably unaware of the logistics in place.
“ The DOT has published data demonstrating that restaurants and bars experience higher sales growth and a higher percentage that remain open in areas with open streets compared to those without”.
I challenge that. Where did you find this info? What year is it referring to? Covid years?
Also, aren’t we discriminating against the rest of the businesses who are losing customers due to bus re-routes?
Bus reroutes? Laughable.
It’s not so laughable when the #7 and #11 buses are re-routed to CPW so that older and/or disabled people have to shlep extra crosstown blocks in the heat of summer to get to destinations on Amsterdam and Broadway, including the JCC at 76th St.
How?
1. You assume that the people who can “walk downstairs” want to sit in the middle of a street.
2. This isn’t solely about personal vehicles. What about all other vehicles outside of MTA/Emergency such as delivery workers, laborers, etc? Other people who need their cars and work on weekends…..not everyone has the freedom to stroll down a 3/4 lane avenue on a weekend.
3. No not all community members benefit when the traffic piles up in front of their apartment building.
4. “Small” children can go play in the parks and playground. As for strollers, it’s a fact of life on the UWS. Don’t think moving strollers off the sidewalk is one of the items the DOT declared a must have for this initiative.
5. Please post the data regarding the DOT published information. Are they researching and polling the same businesses (if the businesses haven’t closed since this started.) And what businesses have benefited? Small shops or restaurants that already have outdoor seating and now street sheds – I can’t see how that would be measured as an impact from closing down an avenue.
Google is your friend.
If it’s so friendly why don’t you find the survey that contains information about Open Streets AFTER the pandemic and BEFORE and DURING…. and post it here.
Additionally data that demonstrates a benefit to businesses from earlier data (published in October 2022): https://www.nyc.gov/html/dot/downloads/pdf/streets-for-recovery.pdf
It’s unclear why you think the burden of proof is solely on those saying that the streets should be used for something other than cars (notably predominantly private vehicles). Can you provide quantitative data that demonstrates that open streets negatively impact the neighborhood? Anyway, the report from the third quarter of 2024 states that: “NYC Open Streets experience less storefront vacancy than the city as a whole.”
Source: Live XYZ 2024 Q3.
From the report, “The NYCDOT Open Streets Program provides partial or full street closures for public amenity. Open Streets exist on over 200
streets across the city and are home to over 2,600 storefronts. Storefronts along Open Streets experience a 9.9% vacancy rate,
lower than the citywide rate of 11.1%. Open Streets are seeing greater recovery to pre-Covid vacancy rates, and many Open
Streets are experiencing vacancy considerably lower than their surrounding neighborhoods as a whole.”
https://www.nyc.gov/assets/planning/download/pdf/planning-level/housing-economy/nyc_dcp_storefront_report_1024.pdf
The American Folk Art Museum is a wonderful place for all ages.
I’m sorry The Shoe Tree is closing (I shopped there when my son was a toddler) but look at the awning in the picture. It is filthy. It makes the store look run down and uninviting.
There are many small businesses in the neighborhood that are similarly grimy from the outside. If these businesses would clean up their exteriors they might get more foot traffic.
You rarely see a big chain store that looks this dirty.
Spice Lamb looks nice, but it is a hike from Columbia.
Can’t find their menu. Doesn’t show up on their website. We love the hot pot place on Broadway at 107 St. Go there often.
Hopefully a new store will come in to Shoe Tree.
Open streets on the Upper West Side causes traffic to idle at intersections when Columbus Ave. is closed which increases pollution and noise from honking vehicles plus bus availability is a nightmare. This is so unnecessary considering we have 2 beautiful parks!
I was thinking about this. Why are shoe stores only now being so direly affected by online retail? I mean, Harry’s Shoes expanded to two locations, then closed its kids store, then removed its kids section, and now it has closed. Now another store. So only TipTop Shoes and the brand that replaces Harry’s
My only thought is that pre pandemic many people were hesitant to buy shoes online. – people were going to shoe stores to try things on and buying it online. But I don’t think it was that popular. The pandemic showed everyone that buying shoes online was possible. So Spirit shows closed, space still empty. Harry’d Shoes sold the business. Now this. Very sad. I I remember when there were so many shoe stores up and down Broadway. So sad.
Very excited about the Chinese place
Sometimes, a trip to DSW (wherever you can find it) is worth the trip.
Very true. Sad but what can you do..
Happy about the hot pot place too.
regarding the Shoe Tree: Before they opened, that location was a book store with PLENTY of magazines and even the plastic “Data Guides” (iykyk…). I’m pretty sure when I stopped by the (then new) Shoe Tree they said they were the same family, but had just changed their business.
Anyone know it my memory is playing tricks on me?
Thanks
Open Streets is the dumbest idea. Maybe people who live on or close to Columbus prefer peace on Sunday’s instead of loud horrid music & other nuisances. Those who applaud this must be either transplants or on the Transportation Alternatives payroll.
Columbus resident here, open streets is a highlight of my summer and it’s wayyyy more peaceful than the noise and pollution from traffic on a typical day
Ah, the quiet of busy traffic…nothing like it for relaxing on a Sunday morning!
Sarah,
Folks depend on the bus -M7 and M11 get diverted when Columbus is closed for OS.
Mass transit must be the priority – not brunch.
I love an AYCE hotpot…hope this one is good!
Oh I was just in AFAM the other day to buy a ceramic gift and didn’t know they were closing for a redesign. Though it’s a good idea since the rest of the structure is rebuilding. After losing Liberty House on West 112th street some years ago there are very few places around here like LH and AFAM is pretty good.
I understand your taste in shops when you mention the items sold at AFAM and the closed Liberty House shop. There is a shop that is open and it has the same vibe as those two shops. It is Magpie at 488 Amsterdam Ave between W 84 and W 83. The owner finds unique items that have handmade aspects about them.
This is ridiculous. People throughout our country are worrying about jobs, the economy and how we maintain and sustain democracy. A lovely effort to enjoy restaurants and shops outside is annoying?
Perspective is sorely needed. Enjoy what you have because the UWS is a dream for many, including me.
I don’t want to weigh in on open streets, because both sides seem to have some good points. However, I miss the FREE MARKET that they occasionally had during open streets- where people would bring their unwanted stuff- that was a blast!!! Of course, there was some junk, but lots of people donated great clothes and books and everyone seemed to have fun. The goal was to keep stuff out of land fills. Fun event! Also a great way to get rid of stuff. There’s not as many thrift stores as there used to be around here…
Looks like 111th st Block Association is having a Swap and Shop thing on Sat May 17th. Check their webite, https://www.w111thstreet.org/upcoming-events/
Yes the Pop Up Swap was great!! Always helped us get rid of old toys, although my kids often made sure we came home with just as much…
I hope that comes back this year.
Some might refute the idea that open streets could decrease traffic, but a Columbia article published last month suggests that that might actually be the case: “…we conducted a difference-in-differences analysis at the census tract level using highly spatially resolved, NYC-wide crowdsourced monthly average daily traffic data. Comparing traffic for census tracts pre-implementation (2019) and post-implementation (2021) of Open Streets, we found an average 13.4% reduction (95% CI: -17.9, -8.9) in traffic in tracts with Open Streets compared to pretreatment levels. Moreover, we observed a reduction in traffic (-362 vehicles, 95% CI: -439, -286) with each percentage point increase in contiguous treated census tracts, highlighting the effect of clustering Open Streets in amplifying traffic reductions.”
Notably, the comparison is between 2019 and 2021. While the pandemic had a prolonged impact on traffic in the city, traffic congestion was worse in 2021 than 2019. That said, this allows the researchers to compare the same tracts before and after open streets.
While I think there are valid criticisms to be made, the data is reasonably strong.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5214168
Basically it compares pandemic height (2021) to pre-pandemic. Of course traffic was lighter! People didn’t go out as much. It is simple, it is not Open Streete effect but pandemic effect.
OH JOY!!!! Another summer season of Sunday’s filled with bands BLASTING music for hours. The bands are always set up between 71st and 72nd. The organizers have No Regard for those of us that actually live in the area and would like a Noise Pollution free Sunday.