By Lisa Kava and Natalie Demaree
Sweet Peanut Records, an independent record store, is opening on July 18th at noon at 463 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 82nd and West 83rd streets). It will carry new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes, and audio equipment, owner Hunter Brammer wrote to West Side Rag in an email. Brammer, an Upper West Sider, previously worked in finance but spent many years collecting and selling vinyl online as a hobby. “I finally made the jump into doing this full time and hope to build a community and partner with other businesses in the area,” he wrote. Sweet Peanut will buy old record collections and will do house calls for larger collections. Brammer plans to host various events at the store for new album releases and album focused conversations with guest speakers. Europtica, an eyewear boutique which consolidated with its Columbus Avenue location in March, was previously in the space.
Caffè Aronne, a kosher-certified coffee shop and mobile espresso bar, is opening a new location later this summer inside of the Marlene Meyerson Jewish Community Center (JCC) at 334 Amsterdam Avenue (at West 76th Street), Chief Operating Officer Aaron Dahan wrote to West Side Rag in an email. Caffè Aronne was founded as a catering brand in 2018, and opened its first brick-and-mortar location on the Upper East Side in 2022. This is the second location for the company. The coffee shop will serve specialty coffee drinks, pastries baked in-house, smoothies, teas, and toasts. There will be an expanded “grab-and-go” food menu, and a service window for quick pickups on West 76th Street, Dahan said. Caffè Aronne is currently open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday through Friday and closed on Saturday, but the Friday hours will change over the course of the year to reflect the time of sunset and the start of the sabbath. “We close an hour before the sabbath year round and are closed for the Jewish holidays on the day of the holiday,” Dahan wrote. He added: “We are very excited to join the Upper West Side community and look forward to serving everyone soon. Diners do not need to hold a JCC membership to join for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or even just a quick latte and croissant.” (Thanks to Scott for the tip.)
Wu’s Dynasty, a traditional Cantonese restaurant, is slated to open at 208 West 70th Street (between Amsterdam and West End avenues), in August, owner Derek Wu wrote to West Side Rag in an email. Wu is known in the culinary community for his work as a founder and manager of Wu’s Wonton King, on the Lower East Side which he left to start Wu’s Dynasty. Wu’s Dynasty will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day and will serve dim sum, Cantonese-style seafood, and more. “We hope to provide our neighbors a good place where they can enjoy Cantonese food, and where they can hang out with friends and family,” Wu wrote. The space was previously Tavola Della Nonna, an Italian American restaurant that opened in 2020.
Central Park Grill & Juice Bar, a 24-hour bodega and deli, located at 405 Central Park West (at West 100th Street), is closed for renovation as new management takes over, according to a sign posted to the door. The deli offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as drink and snack options, including Halal food. Park Pleasant Deli Convenience Corp was previously in the space. We will update when we have more information.
Molly Tea, a tea shop near Columbia University, at 2857 Broadway (between West 110th Street and West 111th Street), has rebranded, and is now called “? Tea” after a legal dispute with its parent company MollyTea Global. The rebrand was first reported on June 23rd by Columbia News Service. In a June 11th statement posted on RedNote, MollyTea Global said the Columbia University location was never authorized. ? Tea serves specialty teas and smoothies, including flavors such as lime cheese premium jasmine, lime cheese jasmine matcha, brown sugar boba matcha, pistachio jasmine tea, and gardenia milk tea, West Side Rag was unable to reach a store owner or manager for comment.
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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Having a record store on the UWS is exciting!
There is an existing record store called Westsider Records on 72nd st between Broadway and WEA
Westsider’s a charming spot to grab some dusties and chat up the encyclopedic Bruce Eder, but it’s not by any stretch a proper record store.
They also cary some wonderful tote bags with literary and musical themes for special gifts.
I remember a record store on the west side of Broadway around W 77 St in the mid 1980s.
And there was NYCD on Amsterdam in the low West 80s.
I’d like to know the name…I’ve lived two blocks away for 50 years and have no recollection!
Wu’s Dynasty is very exciting. Need a replacement for Jing Fong!
Except that location on 70th is a death spot. I’ve been to every place in that location since the ’90s and all were excellent. All failed, though. Wishing Wu the best.
Compass had a decent run there, especially during John Fraser’s time as chef
Sincere question: How do you pronounce ? Tea (?)
Since they can’t use “Molly,” maybe they could change the name to “Golly! Tea!”
They should have rebranded as “Absolute Tea”
Kosher Coffee? Who knew.
Excited for Wu’s Dynasty! Wish them good luck and hope they will be successful. That spot has seen so much turnover from Compass to Marika to Loi to Lincoln Square Steak House to the ill fated Tavola that never opened.
didn’t realize that, when my friends and I dined at Tavola, that was “pre-opening.” it was quite good, and deserved better than it got from its bad pandemic timing
I still remember Compass. Was a great after work place.
Wu’s on East Broadway and Rutgers Street is very, very worth the trip. Hope we can enjoy the same quality uptown.
I don’t even like wontons and I like their wontons. Hope the UWS carries on the tradition.
Just a small detail regarding the store hours of Caffè Aronne: it will not be open till 7pm all year round on Fridays. Since it’s a Kosher food coffee shop, it closes a couple of hours before sunset on Fridays, which means around 2pm in the winter months. The same applies for the Jewish Holy Days and the Holy Days eve.
Corrected to reflect Friday hours.
Whatever Aronne’s hours, as a member of JCC I wish them well. It’s a nice space with a ready-made clientele (I’m always hungry after a swim), and the last few cafe iterations have been less than stellar.
I thought the last one (Michaeli Bakery) was great. But every business seems to struggle there. While there’s a ready-made clientele, it’s almost impossible to attract non-members, who have to go through the building/security. The small take-out window can only help so much.
There was a CD store on Amsterdam Ave. called NYCD (I think) a couple of blocks south of Sweet Peanut Records that closed around 20 years ago. Many memories of happy browsing there.
Oh boy all us Boomers and Gen Xers are regretting tossing our record collections 20 years ago….
I am happy for the record store and wish them luck. But I have a feeling there will be a lot more people trying to dump their record collections on him than those trying to buy. Hopefully I am wrong.
Or selling them in a garage sale for cash to move across country….
Glad this Gen Xer held onto everything!
Totally agree! Was thinking the same.
Bingo. Love my stacks of LPs but wouldn’t mind passing some onto Mr. Bremmer. Though if I did, I’d probably end up buying more.
I wish Hunter much success with his record store. He bought several albums from my collection at a very fair price and was a pleasure to talk to and deal with.
Given that vinyl has outsold every music platform except streaming for the past two years, that CDs have also been making a distinct comeback (and even cassettes have been making a minor comeback), and that audiophile interest has risen since the new burgeoning of vinyl, the timing of this actual record store could not be more propitious.
Ever since the closing of NYCD, the UWS has not had a “music” store. Barnes & Noble is the only one selling vinyl, and the selection is limited (and ridiculously expensive).
So this is a truly welcome addition to the UWS! I wish Mr. Brammer well. And I will be visiting the store as soon as I can.
Westsider Records on 72nd St has been there for years.
A lot of exciting stuff this week! Wishing the best to Peanut and to Wu’s, I plan to check out both
Hopefully Sweet Peanuts will carry Bob Dylan’s album Blonde on Blonde
There is a vinyl store on 72nd street called Westsider Records. It’s on the north side of 72nd between Broadway and West End, close to Broadway.
The Mott St location in Chinatown also changed to ? Tea.
Was this location also unauthorized by Molly Global ?
This sounds so ridiculous to me as how can stores open with Molly name in the first place ?
Plus all the cups and takeout bags have the Molly name on them.