By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
Softside, an ice cream shop, opened at 2878A Broadway (southeast corner of West 112th Street) in April. The menu includes four soft-serve flavors (vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and pistachio) and 13 different toppings. It also has some unique milkshake flavors, including cinnamon toast crunch and salted caramel pretzel, as well as sundaes and a banana split. Softside has outdoor seating only, but there’s indoor seating at the adjacent Upside Pizza, a slice joint which opened in February under both the same ownership and the same roof. (There’s a separate entrance around the corner on Broadway.) The space used to be the longtime home of Liberty House, the clothing and accessories shop.
Superfly, a legal cannabis shop, had a “soft opening” on May 10 and is having a grand opening celebration on May 21 at 4:20 p.m., a representative told West Side Rag. It is located at 57 West 86th Street, just east of Columbus Avenue, where Chase bank used to be; the Chase branch relocated across the street in 2021. This is the fourth licensed dispensary on the Upper West Side, according to New York State’s registry. Superfly has a 1970s theme and plans to host wellness-focused events at the store, including yoga, breathwork, and flower arranging.
The owner didn’t want to be named, but a rep said in an email that they live in the neighborhood, have owned small, family-run restaurants on the Upper West Side for more than a decade, and “believe deeply in providing a store to help promote conscious consumption.”
“It is also important to the owner, being a parent in the neighborhood … [to offer] a true space for community gathering, where everyone can feel proud to gather, whether they consume or not,” the rep said.
(Thanks to Karen for the tip.)
Little Italy Pizza at 2047 Broadway (between West 70th and 71st streets) expanded to the space next door on May 11. The space was most recently Leo Organics, and before that, Lincoln Convenience, which closed two years ago. Little Italy Pizza is open daily from 10 a.m. until 3 a.m. for dine-in, take-out, and delivery. They serve a variety of pizzas (cheese, Sicilian, grandma, pepperoni, mushroom, veggie), as well as specialties such as calzones, garlic knots, and rolls (pepperoni, spinach, broccoli, chicken, stromboli), and salads.
Boggi Milano, an Italian brand for men’s clothing, shoes, and accessories, is opening on the ground floor of the Shops at Columbus Circle (West 59th Street). Founded in 1939, Boggi has shops around the world, including two in New York City, in SoHo and Midtown. It is known for using organic fibers and recycled materials in its products. The opening is expected to take place in June. The space used to be a Coach store.
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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WTH is “conscious consumption”? What’s truly telling about this latest drug dealing outlet is that the owner doesn’t want to be identified.
Agree.
Don’t forget “including yoga, breathwork, and flower arranging.”
As a start if they could ask customers to not smoke on sidewalks that would help
with the “breathwork”
But, sadly they won’t.
In a couple of month’s it will just be a pot shop.
How about when a new upscale liquor store opens, that holds wine tastings and pairing classes? Happy hour events, etc?
In a couple of month’s it will just be any other liquor store – an ugly metal security gate, drenched in piss, with patrons lined up before it opens just to get their fix.
Perfectly legal places like this are ALL around the city and even here on the UWS!
Don’t you work for the Rag? It seems like people who work for the Rag are the ones with editing powers over their own comments, and it says that you edited yours. If you do work for them you should really post less, a lot less.
You can edit your own post shortly after submission.
Gee, I wonder why the owner of the new pot store is ashamed to be identified. Could it be he’s afraid people will stop patronizing his “small, family-run restaurants”?
You took the words out of my mouth. How ridiculous! Go big or go home. I can’t wait until this neighborhood reaches capacity as it did with nail salons, and frozen yoghurt. If it was a great thing, then remove the mask????
Go on.
Re The marijuana store. Totally agree with Cato and Bill. “…feel proud to gather…” but only anonymously, I guess. Seriously? I respect the idea of privacy and desire for anonymity, but then, best to stop talking rather than trumpet the place as a casual gathering spot to be proud of.
I’m also perplexed by how they would think that a pot shop would make a good place to gather with family or friends who don’t smoke? I consider myself pretty liberal and open-minded, but, sorry, a marijuana store will always be totally off-limits for my kids. No, we’ll just hang out at the pharmacy or maybe the liquor store like a normal family.
Sadly, this seems to be the new norm. SNAFU hypocrisy, AI generated meretriciousness, or the simple result of a few tokes before commenting.
OTOH, there is a practical reason why they wanted anonymity—so their friends and acquaintances don’t start asking them for free samples and discounts?
This is classic “woke” UWS. Laughable. I’m all for liberalism but don’t let my friends know or they might kick me out of the Metropolitan Club. I mean – I protested for civil rights in the 60s and smoked weed. Weed is good…as long as I can still wear my Manolos…. OMG. Will this affect my standing in Sag?????.
Well stated.
Happy for Little Italy Pizza. However, I hope their expansion does not mean more disorganized outdoor seating, trash on the sidewalk and even more black garbage bins. Getting to the subway station on that block is fast becoming an obstacle race.
Good for them! Hot take, but theirs is consistently one of the best slices on the UWS (yes, even compared to the “big” names).
one of the worst slices in Manhattan. Fake mozzarella and terrible dough
No hits on search of their name or address; their outdoor seating appears to be illegal.
https://diningout.nyc.gov/application/
I’m happy for them too. Glad that they took over the illegal pot shop.
Please. Inhale whatever you want but don’t exhale it — my lungs don’t need it. See the air quality index, then go outside and whatever little oxygen is left, watch people smoke whatever and exhale it into your lungs. Can’t someone have everybody EATING their stuff instead of INHALING it. Why does the NYC have to smell like cigarettes and marijuana (and we get all that vaping stuff, too) all the time. Yuck.
I smoke cigars all over town. You’ve probably walked into a cloud or two from the very fine cigars I savor. You’re welcome.
Gross.
White Owl is not a fine cigar.
Little Italy’s expansion looks great. And, I do hope they start being better neighbors and pick up after their customers.
Correction…the new space, to the north of the original pizzeria was not Leo Organics or Lincoln Convenience…that empty storefront is still there – the the south of the pizzeria. I think the previous tenant of the new expansion was Moaz. Forty years ago, all those spaces were a homegoods/furnture store – was it West Town House? Anyone remember?
Hi, Diane – yes, I believe it was West Town House! I recall they had beautiful things that were mostly, alas, beyond my budget – but I still have a tiny picture frame (literally about 1.5 inches square) that still holds a photo of my cat Bunny at the time. The frame and the photo are a bit worse for wear now, but I cherish them both!
Please, no more cannabis shops on the UWS.
No more liquor stores either?
Personally I am disturbed by the backwards thinking of so many commenters here. Why are you so hung up on the owner of the cannabis store not wanting to disclose their name? I think many non-cannabis users attach that stereotyped lifestyle or presentation of self to anyone they hear uses “those types” of products. Not every person who uses cannabis and cannabis products wants that to be their entire personality!
Perhaps the owner of the store doesn’t want people to generalize about them or speak negatively about them just because cannabis. This person could own a business and not even use the products sold there!! Either way you are still judging them. If they revealed themselves you would still have nothing nice to say.
Also, plenty of people still smoke cigarettes and that second hand smoke is just an accepted part of walking down a sidewalk in American society. When smoking cigarettes was an American pastime in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s (even the 90’s I remember smoking sections in restaurants!!!) no one ever went on tirades like this. If someone exhales right in your face, cigarette or pot, it’s disgusting. Someone smoking a cigarette or pot on the street is just something you encounter in a city. Get over it and mind your own business.
Do people not get how damaging ALCOHOL is? Cannabis is WAY less harmful. Just has a certain stigma attached to it.
To be clear, weed will mess you up if consumed in excess. Like anything. But alcohol is wildly more harmful.
To be clear, I smoke. I drink. I’m supposed to stop but I can’t
It may not be less harmful for young people.
Pretty sure there were plenty of tirades about cigarette smoking before people recognized how rude, unhealthy and gross the secondhand smoke was. The pot smoke is even more gross.
People absolutely went on tirades about smoking in the 80s and 90 s. I don’t know about the 70s, but they absolutely did.
People are angry because for a few years, there was no smoke in the street. And now, we have gone backwards, and the smell, of marijuana is all over the place.
I strongly dislike it. Smoke in private but must we all smell it.
If you can find a way that your business – the smelly stench of weed doesn’t affect my business I’m good. Wish you would push edibles and this way you could get your high without impacting everyone else. This is why many oppose your choices. Let your business only affect you.
Edibles are a great alternative. Just as an e-cigarette or a vape or a patch are other ways to ingest nicotine as well. Do cigarette smokers always make this choice? No! So why hold a cannabis smoker to that same standard. Again, as long as someone is not directly exhaling this in your face, and you’re walking past, this should not effect your for more than a few seconds. Move on!
What about those of us who don’t want to damage our lungs just by stepping outside? Should we defer to whatever people did in the 60s? There weren’t pooper scooper laws back then either I was told…should we go back to that too?
I’d love to hear what people did back in the 1960’s to avoid cigarette smoke. It’s probably very similar to what you do today- keep walking!
We know, we know. It’s SOOO progressive. That’s why you compare it to… cigarettes.
I was minding my own business – until i had to walk thru a cloud of smoke.
Try harder. This doesn’t cut it.
Again, what happens when you have to walk through a cloud of cigarette smoke? When someone is standing under scaffolding to avoid the rain and the whole under-area reeks of cigarette smoke? You keep walking and move on! My point of comparing cannabis to cigarettes is not to state one is more progressive than the other. My point is to show the hypocrisy in which people feel the need to criticize every action of a cannabis smoker and then level zero criticism against a cigarette smoker doing the same thing (who’s secondhand smoke is arguably much more harmful than cannabis smoke)
What about the fact that cigarette smokers contribute to tons of litter still in our city?? Where is the daily public outcry when ash is flicked onto my shoes and still lit butts are flung into the streets and dropped on sidewalks??? Why the intense scrutiny around someone exhaling a cannabis product when there is still so much normalized behavior and attitudes around nicotine smokers
Unfortunately, when I am unable to dodge the smoke, I cough. And cough. And cough. I’m prone to asthmatic bronchitis and other unfortunate lung reactions, and it makes me feel awful.
Your overwrought defense of not merely the right to smoke pot, but to smoke it without regard to the interests of anyone else – based on the fact that cigarette smokers used to enjoy the same ability to overlook the impact of their actions on others – is really peculiar. But it does demonstrate that something legal (as pot smoking now is) can be regulated so that it is not exercised in a a way that hurts others (as pot smoking now should be).
I’m sorry that either substance creates such a reaction, that sounds tough to live with in an urban environment regardless of what others put into the air. I would hope that if you regularly mask in public this would help alleviate your symptoms (a la wearing a mask to alleviate a pollen allergy) I would also go on to further state that cigarette users still have ample opportunities to overlook how their actions effect others.
Personally, I look to make sure children aren’t right next to me (or anyone really) when consuming out on the street. Personally, I understand that many people don’t enjoy the smell. I’m still going to smoke on the street, and I’m sure people will complain no matter how careful I am.
I often fall back on comparisons of cannabis smokers vs. nicotine smokers since I feel an overwhelming side of this arguments is about the secondhand smoke, which is very different for each substance. Secondhand pot smoke passed by on the street will not get you high. Secondhand pot smoke will not put chemicals that cigarettes contain into your lungs. You may not enjoy the smell but unless you have some kind of asthmatic issues (as stated above) this should not harm you to the degree that a cigarette would. While unpleasant, cannabis is a grown, harvested plant consumed without the toxic chemical additives contained alongside tobacco in a cigarette.
Yeah, masks don’t actually stop smoke. And there aren’t a lot of substances in the air that are as irritating as smoke from cigarettes (tobacco or pot). It is odd that you are so confident that a pot plant does not contain harmful pesticides?
More like semi-conscious consumption
So sick of the smell of pot everywhere. Do what you want in your own homes, but don’t make me inhale your foul fumes on the street and in restaurants.
It seems like that’s an issue the owner is aiming to address, no? I don’t consume and hate cig/weed/vape smoke, but by offering a social space for weed users, won’t people be more inclined to smoke there rather than on the street? We have public gathering places for alcohol drinkers, and drinking on the street is both illegal and frowned upon. Weed lacks the public gathering places, so it’s smoked on the sidewalk and in the park.
Voted your quality of life away, you did it to yourself, zero sympathy.
Conscious consumption? As opposed to unconscious? Did they really mean conscientious? Too much consumption leads to language misuse. lol
If you’re ashamed to put your name on a business, maybe its shameful.
I don’t care who owns Superfly but their website is really hard to use. It doesn’t have to be that complicated.
I’ve lived on the UWS since 1977 when I moved to NYC to earn two advanced degrees at Columbia. Admittedly, I only started reading the West Side Rag during Covid. I find it striking that so many WSR comments express right wing & thinly disguised racist opinions. Also, there is a remarkable amount of complaining. Sure, the neighborhood has problems which is the case in all non-utopian communities. Yes, I really enjoy living here among the weed smokers, expensive real estate residents, homeless population, kamakazee delivery bikers & progressive voters.
The owner “didn’t want to be named”? Isn’t this just public record?