By Lisa Kava and Natalie Demaree
Aunt Jenny, a Chinese comfort food restaurant, opened at 2794 Broadway (at West 108th Street) on February 10th. The restaurant is currently offering a grand opening promotion of one base (white rice, brown rice, egg fried rice, or vegetable lo mein), along with two dishes (such as shredded pork, spicy chicken, among others), for $10. This is the first Aunt Jenny location, and there are plans to franchise the restaurant soon, a spokesperson said. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week, according to the restaurant’s social media. The space was previously 108 Food Dried Hot Pot which closed in June. (Thanks to Sam for the tip.)
Pilatibodi, a Pilates studio, “soft opened” a third Upper West Side location in January at 969 Columbus Avenue (between West 107th and West 108th streets). Pilatibodi has an existing studio for private and duet Pilates sessions at 200 West 93rd Street (between Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue), and a second studio for group classes at 2758 Broadway (at West 106th Street).
The new location is “roughly 700 square feet [of] space offering both mat and reformer Pilates,” studio co-owner Laura Anders wrote to West Side Rag in an email. “We keep classes small and intimate to really focus on form. Most of our classes are open level, but we have added a beginner mat class for those curious to learn the method, and will be adding more leveled classes.” The new studio has five reformers. “We believe in smart movement with a true foundation in classical Pilates principles. Our goal is for our clients to gain strength, balance, and learn tools to move better while having fun and building community.” The class schedule can be found here.
Blue Mercury, the cosmetics shop 2477 Broadway (at West 92nd Street), closed on February 7th. The company has not yet responded to West Side Rag’s outreach asking the reason for the closure. The nearest remaining Blue Mercury shops on the Upper West Side are at 184 Columbus Avenue (at West 68th Street), and at 341 Amsterdam Avenue (at West 76th Street). Blue Mercury previously had another UWS location at 2305 Broadway (between West 83rd and West 84th streets), which closed in 2021. (Thanks to Kathleen for the tip.)
Capital One, the bank at 175 West 72nd Street (at Amsterdam Avenue) is closing on April 22nd, a spokesperson confirmed to West Side Rag. “As with other national and regional banks, we optimize our branch network in response to changing customer needs and preferences, leading to our decision to close the West 72nd Street branch in April 2026,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to the Rag. “We remain committed to the NYC community through our other Capital One branches and Cafes- including the Capital One Cafe at Columbus Circle- that offer customers modern and smart experiences enabling them to bank on the terms that meet their needs. Our customers can utilize our location finder to find other branches, cafes, or ATM’s.”
(Thanks to Jeff for the tip.)
Relive, a health and medical aesthetics clinic, which offered services such as vitamin therapy and ozone therapy in addition to facials and laser hair removal, has permanently closed the its location at 665 Columbus Avenue (between West 92nd and West 93rd streets). This location, which opened in September 2024, was the only Manhattan location, according to the company’s website. Relive has other clinics across the country. (Thanks to Mary for the tip.)
Uptown Dermatology, a dermatology clinic at 981 Amsterdam Avenue (at West 108th Street), is temporarily closed due to flooding, according to a sign posted to the front door. The clinic has numerous locations throughout NYC; the closest one to the Amsterdam Avenue location is at 258 St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem (at West 123rd Street.) A representative told West Side Rag that the clinic on Amsterdam Avenue does not yet have a reopening date.
ICYMI:
The Leopard at des Artistes, the popular longtime Italian restaurant, is closing at the end of this month. Read West Side Rag’s coverage of this closure here.
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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Does anyone know if Trader Joe’s reopened after their flood?
Yes all good to go!
Yes, the Trader Joe’s on Columbus re-opened after the flood.
I wish we could get a bodega back where Blue Mercury was.
There’s a bodega up the street on 93rd.
That is far from a bodega. You can’t even get a loaf of bread there.
Glowdega*
(My new term for the fancy-ish “Gourmet” bodegas. No shade on them, I do love a bodega with a glowup!)
There had been a Korean deli there before Blue Mercury, just as there had been a Korean deli before there was a bodega on 93rdd
It was delightful
I miss them!
Damn shame that the Capital One branch on 72nd is closing. I miss the one that used to be on 87th and Broadway. Now down to Columbus Circle, and who needs a Capital One Cafe around here?☕️
Right? I think the one by the subway closed during the pandemic, at the beginning. And the peace had just sat empty ever since.
Ugh. All but one are closings.
Two are openings
Crepes on Columbus also closed 🙁
Ugh no way!!
I love Pilatibodi. I started two years ago doing private lessons at their W. 93rd St., Studio. I now do mostly group classes at their new Columbus Avenue studio, which is beautiful. The instructors are all different, but equally excellent. Only five reformers, so spots fill up quickly, but the class size makes individual attention standard at this place. I’m so glad to have Pilatibodi in my life!!
Man. That Blue Mercury location, it must have JUST closed. I am surprised it lasted over 10 years in that location because I never saw anyone go in. Also
I really miss the Korean deli that had been there before Once Han”s closed, there are no Korean deli left on Broadway. There aren’t really many left on Amsterdam or Columbus, sadly.
I wonder how long that space will be empty.
The shoplifting was so bad there, I’m surprised it didn’t close earlier!
Ditto about Blue Mercury! And about its Korean deli predecessor. 😔
I saw that Capital One location get robbed more than once, so not a shock that they’re bailing. Big loss to the neighborhood having an empty storefront on that busy corner.
Re Capital One, I find it a bit disingenuous that so many businesses, when they close a location, always add, “We remain committed to the community….” And btw, the Capital One Cafe near Columbus Circle is excellent. We actually COULD use one up here.
Also, this may sound “wrong” but I mean it in the most innocuous way: what is “Chinese comfort food?”
Right the current capital one space is huge, wish it were being adapted to the cafe format instead of closing outright
Now no Capital Ones on entire UWS.
The facade Aunt Jenny ripped down cannot be replaced. This is one of the ugliest renovations I’ve ever seen in my decades on the UWS. What’s more, that place will close down in a few short years when the supply of foreign students at columbia dries up.
Disgrace
Agree–the previous wood facade was really nice and now it is very ugly. The building ownership was remiss in allowing that kind of modification.
It looks like they built right over the old front– the historic portions of the facade are probably still under there. I’m not sure why you think only foreign students would eat at this place — if it’s good, presumably many people would want to eat there. Taking that aside, in a couple of years Trump will be out of office, and hopefully the US can convince foreign students to come back again when a more sane, decent administration is in place.
Truth be told I watched then build the fecade. I can’t say what was perfectly preserved. Most of it was actually built on top of the existing. Aka they framed out over the previous front.
That was my guess, looking at it– that they just built right over it without ripping it out. (That said, the new facade is pretty hideous and I do wish they’d kept the old, much more attractive, facade instead of building over it.
It’s a shame that 108 Hot Pot place closed. It was a favorite spot and I was hoping it would come back instead of another typical Chinese restaurant. Bring back Hot Pot with their unique variety and flavors!
Sad a little bit about Cafe des Artistes, although it became a boring version of its old amazing self years ago. I went there a couple of times for my birthday with my father. We just loved how ornate and over the top opulent it was; almost campy. plus the food was amazing! It just hasn’t been the same since they decided to make it generic and bland looking with the exception of the Howard Chandler Christy paintings, which remained, it just lost its pizazz, frankly.
Blue Mercury is all over you with the hard sell the second you walk in the door. Very annoying. It’s no surprise they went out of business. Sephora basically leaves you alone unless you need help. A much better business model!