OMG Not another 99 cent store!!
Commercial revitalization is one of our key focuses at Nostrand Park. So we were excited when we saw that a "for rent" sign previously posted on a particular Nostrand storefront(can't recall the exact address but it's around 758 Nostrand between Sterling and Park) had finally come down. What could be coming in? Clothing store? Restaurant? Art gallery?
At first one of the workers told us it would be a grocery store. Which didn't make sense given the nearby competition. But after some snooping we managed to speak with the owner who informed us, as you may have guessed from the post title, that it will be a 99 cent shop. No, no, no!
We did a post a couple of weeks about the $743 million retail gap in Crown Heights. Across dozens of retail and service categories, from food services, to clothing, to auto-related - Crown Heights is grossly underserved.
And yet, what comes to answer the call? Yet another 99 cent/variety store - there is another one that opened up a block away a couple of months ago(there is about 1 per block on Nostrand). Ugh!
According to our conversations with some local landlords, Crown Heights (Nostrand specifically) has been typecast. And despite their efforts to attract more diverse businesses, the same cast of characters keep showing up.
We are working on some retail development initiatives, and we are happy to see some of the new businesses like Syd's Serious Sandwich Shop open, but its frustrating to see 99 cent posse still has such a tight hold.
Anyways, that's just our rant...
Comments
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I predict this post will be controversial, but it is amazing how many 99-cent stores a neighborhood can support, when they are all essentially selling the same stuff. There must be a huge profit margin on the stuff they sell.
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Are a lot of those $0.99 stores a chain?
They seem to all have similar merchandise, so they likely buy from the same suppliers.
But do they have the same owners? Unlike bodegas, they don't seem to have their owners on site ...which makes me wonder whether their is a Dollar Store Tzar who visits every outlet everyday to check on his/her empire.
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boycott?
blame the tree branch guy?
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boycott?
blame the tree branch guy?
No, no, no.
This is happening on Nostrand Avenue, not Franklin. The folks on Nostrand seem to have different approaches. ...and Damn them for making me crave Syd's Steak and Cheese again as a result of this thread.
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What's wrong with a 99 cent store? What does NostrandPark want,a sushi bar? A bicycle shop? Coffee and croissants? A wine 'bar'? Syd's Serious Sandwiches? Oh yeah, they got that.
This is yet another class-based rally against a business that boo-jeefolks don't want simply because they don't want it. They want something reflective of how they seem themselves, and as far as they are concerned, going into a 99 cent store and getting a gallon of Poland Spring just doesn't fit their mold. They want their egos massaged with paper bags that scream 'I'm green and earth friendly!' They want 20 dollar gourmet sandwiches. They want laundromats where you can drop of your drawers and have them dry-cleaned. Damned Hipsters.
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From the posts I read, there are already a number of $.99 stores in the neighborhood. Why not add some variety in the local offerings, rather than more of the same?
Or do you object to adding higher-priced shops because that alienates lower-income residents?
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Variety? 99 cent stores have variety. I object to the notion that there is something wrong with inexpensive goods.
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Sometimes those 99 cent stores start out as such, but then gradually carry better merchandise as time goes on. ....they become 99 Cent PLUS stores, and/or begin to carry small appliances like toasters and clock radios.
Some specialize by carrying drug store type merchandise, and have everything but the pharmacy.
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So, MHA, you are content to furnish and decorate your apartment and to dress yourself solely with what you can buy at 99 cent shops?
You see no need for any other shops at all? No shoe repair, hardware, dry cleaners?
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I think Nostrand Park's point is that currently many of the CH residents have to go outside their neighborhood to get the quality of goods and services they desire.
All that money is spent: Outside the 'hood.
All those jobs being created and supported by that money: Outside of the 'hood.
The political capital and power that is given to genuinely powerful business owners [for example: I want more police protection from my pct] is given to an owner: Outside the 'hood.
....but I will concede that MHA is correct in that the businesses on Nostrand have become much more diverse over the past few years. Change is happening.
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Yep, content with 99 cent merchandise. No need for Special Ed's fois gras nonsense... Nostrand Ave already has shoe repair. hardware. and a dry cleaners... No need for boutique clothing in Brooklyn babe!
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This is yet another class-based rally against a business that boo-jeefolks don't want simply because they don't want it.
exhibit #84
They want something reflective of how they seem themselves, and as far as they are concerned, going into a 99 cent store and getting a gallon of Poland Spring just doesn't fit their mold. They want their egos massaged with paper bags that scream 'I'm green and earth friendly!' They want 20 dollar gourmet sandwiches. They want laundromats where you can drop of your drawers and have them dry-cleaned. Damned Hipsters.
who is "they"???? i object to your use of the word "they"!!!
i am righteous and indignant! -
MHA,
I'm often with you, in theory at least, if not in practice. But in this case, I feel you're going overboard trying to prove your point. There are already several 99 cent stores in the area. Some might say more than enough. I don't think the consensus was to have something "hoity toity" move into that space, just not another 99 cent store, or hairdresser, or bullet-proof chinese or fried chicken place, etc., i.e., things that are already available ad nauseum around here.
Maybe a nice, local family-owned restaurant option? Or a card store? Pharmacy? Heck, I'd kill for a good quality butcher shop or fish market within walking distance any day of the week.
Notice I'm not suggesting sushi, or wine bar, or organic, high-priced bodega or especially lattes. There is a whole universe of options squarely in between the likes of 99 cent stores and $9 coffee bars that you're ignoring on principal, and its silly.
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wine bar
class-based term.
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Even when Abigail's on Classon bill itself as such on its street signage?
Case in point, my second living room for nearly 7 years, Sepia on Underhill, is distinctly not a wine bar.
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Even when Abigail's on Classon bill itself as such on its street signage?
Yes. It should be called Abigail Cafe and Wine Shop.
Taking this a step further, "Bars" (just saying that word makes me shudder) should be called Liquor and Beer Shops. Enough is enough, people. The lengths "they" will go to satisfy their class-based pretensions.
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I'd be surprised if anything really upscale survived on Nostrand, but I am optimistic that the new businesses will make it.
The new sushi place.
Syd's sandwich place.
The new bar with jazz and poolEach seems like it will do well.
If I'm right and the new jazz-pool place does well, I wonder if Q's Lounge will adapt part of their business plan in the future.
P.S. On an alcohol consumed per dollar basis, aren't wine bars are about the same as most beer bars? ...btw, a lot of good looking women prefer like wine, not beer or liquor. My sense is that going to a wine bar has improved the sex lives of many heterosexual males: The odds are often good. The goods are not always odd.
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Not getting it Mr. Met. What's your issue with the term "bar"? Sonce when did "bar" come to represent the front lines of class warfare?
Would tavern, saloon or pub be preferable? I mean, "Liquor and Beer Shop" doesn't really do it. For one, it takes too long to say. There should be a snappier colloquialism for it.
Note - I'm assuming you're going with sarcasm here, but its not easy to read when its just words on a screen...
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Case in point, my second living room for nearly 7 years, Sepia on Underhill, is distinctly not a wine bar.
Not to get off topic, but I concur: Delissa does run a fine establishment.
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She sure does. Those damned kids we had in the last few years have prevented us from going nearly as much as we used to, sadly.
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ntfool, from the Thirst Wine Bar thread (written by MHA):
I don't know if 'transformation' and 'clean-up' necessitates it being 'better'. It all depends upon whose interests are being met. Were I a john looking for a 'working girl' (or 'boy' for that matter) then the price of said service has now gone up. I mean, the meat-packing district has become a ghetto for boutique bullshit and the self-consciously scrubbed; stainless steel, glass and chrome are now prerequisites. I dunno, that kind of stuff is disgusting in a 'progressive' sort of way....
What's wrong with a wine shop beside a scrapyard and a chicken slaughterhouse? Note my use of 'shop' instead of bar. It's conscious. Why must we dress up everything? That's not a rhetorical question. There is something self serving and narcissist when 'folks need to sit in mood lighting just to drink alcohol. A bottle of wine that retails for 8 bucks is taken into a 'wine bar' where one buys a glass of wine for 8 bucks... Crazy hipsters....
As I have said before, MHA, you pull the same kind of shit in just about every thread you participate in. What sucks is that not everyone knows that this is your MO, and they actually take the time to engage you as if it were worth the time. You hijack threads with your ramblings. You ruin them. You ruin part of my Internet life. As an Internet entity, you suck. I award you zero points, and may god have mercy on your soul.
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Yeah, I'd read that other thread. Just didn't realize that that was what you had been referencing. And I do agree with you, as per my post addressed to MHA from an hour or so ago this morning.
Again, sarcasm = difficlut to determine with just words on screen. Thanks for clarifying.
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MHA - not sure if you bothered to read the stats on the amount of "retail leakage" in the neighborhood to the tune of $743 million dollars that we referenced in the OP.
What that indicates, as whynot points out, is that there is a substantial demand for goods and services in the neighborhood that is not being met by the businesses in the neighborhood.
And the profile of what is demanded in the neighborhood and who is the source of the demand is based on a comprehensive demographic analysis of this neighborhood - and specifically takes into account that the median household income is a mere $39,000. It is not based on a random poll of "hipsters".
Perhaps it is your own classist stereotypes that lead you to the conclusion that folks of a lower-income in this neighborhood do not demand a greater variety of goods and services, but the hard data bares out a different story.
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This is yet another class-based rally against middle class people that MHA doesn't want simply because he doesn't want them in his neighborhood. MHA wants everything reflective of how he sees himself, and as far as he is concerned, going into a 99 cent store and getting a gallon of Poland Spring is just what everyone should do. Just stamp yourself in MHA's mold. (Hey, I get my water from the tap, MHA is too bourgeois for me!) He wants his egos massaged with paper bags that scream 'I'm just as miserable as you!' He wants no diversity, no variety except variety stores, only bodega sandwiches, only hair braiding places, only stores that serve the West Indian/African/black people. He wants laundromats where you can drop of your drawers and have them dry-cleaned. Damned didn't they do that before we moved in?
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One last point ...
We do not begrudge the hair salons or Caribbean restaurants, generally, but there is a lot to be said about (1) the need for a greater diversity of businesses in Crown Heights, and (2) the need for a greater quality of goods and services.
The grossly inferior quality, service, aesthetics, standards, and product that is commonplace in businesses throughout the hood – an inferiority which is generally based on owners' own stereotypes rather than what is actually desired by the community - should be considered unacceptable to any true community advocate.
To the same extent, the lack of options and alternatives in one’s community should be considered unacceptable to any true community advocate. Let’s talk about the fact that low-income residents are only ever exposed to inferior foods, goods, and services based on someone else’s stereotypes about what they “deserve” or “want”. Let’s talk about how that informs their value system. Let’s talk about how perhaps introducing other options to the hood could have a positive effect on the residents.
Or perhaps, MHA, you think otherwise. Your prejudices are more poisonous than the people you admonish. Check yourself.
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The grossly inferior quality, service, aesthetics, standards, and product that is commonplace in businesses throughout the hood
yes yes, but does "inferior quality" and "inferior aesthetics" always mean "worse"? just kidding. i agree with you, of course. if i may, i'd like to anticipate the response:
Who determines what is inferior? Who determines what looks good and what doesn't look good? These are class-based assertions and value judgments coming from people trying to impose their will on MY neighborhood. Damn hipsters.
Or perhaps, MHA, you think otherwise. Your prejudices are more poisonous than the people you admonish. Check yourself.
:cheers:
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Nostrandpark,
well stated.
Mr. Met,
hey, I like the guessing game. I'll play along. I think it is fair assume that I will then point out:
No one owns the neighborhood, and that MHA (like each one of us) can't speak for anyone but himself. And that the vast majority of the people being presently being under served by the businesses in the community share MHA's complexion, even if they don't share his opinions..
Perhaps we could create an auto response computer program, like those porn-bots I've heard about. I hear the well written ones cause some men fall in love with them, or at least reach orgasm.
It's like a record:
People who disagrees with him are first called "racist".
If he learns they are his same race, he then calls them "classist".However, there is a part of me that would like to get money from my parents, learn to ride a fixed gear bike, like coffee, and be 15 years younger. Then MHA could hated me because I was as a "damn hipster".
I would take pride in being a damn hipster. I would be the best damn hipster ever.
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Returning to the topic at hand, I walked down Nostrand and the other day and its looking a lot better than in the past.
The drug dealers were more subtle.
The litter was tolerable.
The Jamaican food was yummy.
...the avenue is really coming along nicely. If I had some cash, I'd invest in a commercial property somewhere along the EP to Atlantic strip.
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like those porn-bots I've heard about. I hear the well written ones cause some men fall in love with them, or at least reach orgasm.
hahahaha
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If I had some cash, I'd invest in a commercial property somewhere along the EP to Atlantic strip.
Ditto.
Howdy, Stranger!
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