By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
The North Face in the Ansonia building at 2101 Broadway (at 73rd Street) will close on January 15th. The store, which occupies two floors, sells men’s, women’s and children’s winter apparel including jackets, puffers and gear. A salesperson in the store told WSR that the “lease was not renewed.” A selection of merchandise is on sale at 40% off. “I was just in the store and there’s practically no merchandise,” wrote tipster Gretchen. The store opened in 2003 and was the company’s first location in NYC.
Wafels & Dinges, known for its decadent Belgian dessert waffle trucks, is “soft opening” at 392 Columbus on the corner of 79th Street on January 11th, the project manager told WSR. A full opening will happen in a few weeks, he said. Hours are “to be determined.” The company, founded in 2007, serves waffles made from dough instead of batter and operates food carts in Central Park, in addition to stores in Brooklyn, Bryant Park, and Herald Square. They also ship nationwide. “Dinges” refers to waffle toppings and is a Belgian slang word meaning “whatchammacallits.” The space was formerly the cafe Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. The new Columbus Ave. store will be the largest one to date for Wafels & Dinges, the project manager told us. (Thanks to Carina for the tip.)
The Rite Aid at 741 Columbus (at 97th Street) is planning to close at the end of January, a store clerk told WSR. “We won’t pay February rent,” the clerk said. “Three years of shoplifting, plus a rent increase, is why we are closing.” Rite Aid previously had another store on the UWS at 210-220 Amsterdam between 68th and 70th, which closed in the fall of 2021. This past summer, Residents of Park West Village (the apartment complexes on Columbus and Central Park West between 97th and 100th Streets) led an email campaign to the President and CEO of Rite Aid, Heyward Donigan, to save the Rite Aid at 741 Columbus from closing. “[The pharmacy] is frequented by many senior residents who rely on the store to fill prescriptions, who would experience severe challenges in obtaining life-saving medications,” according to the letter. After the closing, there will be no other Rite Aids in the neighborhood. (Thanks to Jose for the tip.)
Zootiez, a smoke shop, has opened at 447 Amsterdam between 81st and 82nd Streets. Blondi’s hair salon previously occupied the space. The store sells edibles, pre-rolls, cannabis flower, disposable vapes, and cartridges. They also sell “munchies” such as popcorn, pretzels, and potato chips. Zootiez opened on December 30th and “business has been steady,” a store clerk told West Side Rag. The brand is name-dropped in a hit record by Future, “Puffin on Zootiez,” and the company sells expensive merchandise, including a varsity jacket for $400, on its website. Currently, there is only one store, a Housing Works in Greenwich Village, that is licensed to sell cannabis in the city. “If [Zootiez] is selling cannabis, they’re selling it illegally, full stop,” said a representative from City Council Member Gale Brewer’s office. A recent sweep of smoke shops on the UWS confiscated more than $200,000 of unregulated THC, cigarettes and vaping products.
Columbus Park Dental, a general and cosmetic dentistry office, is opening at 40 West 72nd Street between Columbus and Central Park West in early March. It is founded by Dr. Sidak Singh, who chose the UWS for her first practice because she lives in the neighborhood with her family. She’s looking to bring a sense of community to her practice: “I think there’s something special about having a personal relationship with your dentist,” said Dr. Singh in a call with WSR. “It gives patients a lot of comfort knowing who [is] seeing them every time.” The renovated space will incorporate technology to help “alleviat[e] the fear of dentistry,” such as using scanners (instead of impressions, which can be uncomfortable) and letting patients watch TV or listen to headphones “to put you at ease while you’re in the chair.” Specialists will be joining the practice so that most procedures can be done in house.
Intimissimi, an Italian lingerie brand founded in 1996, is coming to 241 Columbus Avenue (at 71st Street). The space was formerly occupied by the high end European clothing store IRO. A worker at the space told West Side Rag they plan to open in about six weeks. Intimissimi also sells pajamas, socks, and swimwear.
Wonder, a restaurant concept backed by former Jet.com CEO Marc Lore, is coming to 2030 Broadway between 69th and 70th Streets. Scanning the QR code on the storefront takes you to a website that simply says, “The best restaurants under one roof,” in front of a looping video of sushi, pizza, and other dishes being prepared. In other cities, Wonder is operating a separate aspect of its business doing mobile food delivery, expediting meals from top restaurants. 
Indie Food and Wine, the restaurant located in the Film Society of Lincoln Center at 144 West 65th Street, is closing on January 31st. Indie, which opened in 2011, operates as a cafe during the day and does dinner table service at night. (Thanks to Helene and Charlotte for the tips.)
I expect the spaces left by the vacating The Rite-Aid and North Face stores will not be occupied for at least 2-3 years. What retailer would want those large spaces with high rents? .. so sad
That corner of 72 and Broadway in front of North Face will become even more of a homeless haven.
North Face is at 73rd & Broadway, which has improved dramatically since the Ansonia’s scaffolding/sidewalk sheds came down. The same can be said of 72nd & Broadway since the recent removal of scaffolding/sheds — things got much better almost immediately on the corners by Gray’s Papaya and Capital One.
I really feel like one of the quickest ways to improve our streetscapes would be for our elected officials to change the scaffolding laws. I get the reasoning behind Local Law 11, but every 5 years is too short a time and too many buildings are allowed to throw up scaffolding and then just keep it there.
101st and Broadway is a prime example. It literally has scaffolding to protect people from the original scaffolding!
In addition, everyone complains about the loss of parking due to restaurant sheds, but what about the dumpsters that are installed for years and years at these sites, with no sign of ever leaving?
The scaffolding companies have seen a way to make a lot of profit from Local Law 11 and are funding officials to make sure it never changes. Meanwhile, we have to live with the dark, dreary, litter-strewn mess they create.
The fact that stores have to close because of shoplifting is far from normalcy. Woke politicians quest for social Justice meaning criminal coddling affects law-abiding citizens. But we keep voting for them!
It’s fabrication that the stores are closing because of theft it makes them blame the community for closure. When we know brick and mortar is an outdated way to shop in most instances.
It’s more likely because they charge double what anything costs at a non-big-chain pharmacy so most of their customers are probably either using the pharmacy, which didn’t require that large a store, or grabbing something they need in a bind because it’s faster than looking for it cheaper somewhere else. Now that people got used to same day delivery and working from home it’s no wonder those services are no longer in demand.
So you want to walk down main streets with no brick and mortar local stores? Sounds like a great future for this city. If people would get themselves out the door and walk, we might have a healthier and more vibrant community again. Keep watching things close and walk down empty blocks. Sounds lovely.
Yep – this is exactly what’s to come and Covid made it worse. And we will have to adjust. Retail is moving increasingly online and that’s not going to slow down anytime soon.
I have faith that the NYC community will eventually innovate as it has always done and find new uses for these spaces. Services of various kinds, restaurants, dark stores for delivery services, maybe even housing could replace retail. BUT unfortunately, extremely stubborn/greedy (and often ancient) landlords are going to hold this progress up … tho they will eventually have to face this fact and lower rents/adjust expectations.
Every Amazon purchase is a knife in the heart of your community. Stop ordering online and shop local.
The CFO of Walgreens recently admitted that company claims of shoplifting have been overstated and shared that retail shrinkage has stabilized since last year. Shrinkage is hovering around 2.5% of sales (compared to 3.5% in 2021). I imagine Rite Aid has comparable figures.
The Walgreens CFO comments were more subtle. The remarks were that the impact of anti theft may be hurting sales in a manner that costs too much given that shrinkage was stabilizing.
I can certainly relate; I don’t go to Duane Reade as much with everything locked up.
Totally impractical to go to a store where you have to wait for someone to come and unlock items you want to purchase!
I certainly don’t have a problem waiting for someone to come and open up a display so I can purchase an item. In my experience, an associate usually comes within 5 minutes of my having pushed the call button. It is not an unreasonable expectation that stores have to protect their inventory and I don’t understand why people object to it so much. People need to be a little more understanding and not so incredibly impatient.
Exactly . Thank you for bringing this to our attention.
Is that 2.5% nationally or for NYC? While shopping at Walgreens/Duane Reade on UWS, I have witnessed shoplifting more than 2.5% of the time!
Rite-Aid announced a ton of store closures in 2022, and now even more in 2023, due to stores being unprofitable:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/brucejapsen/2022/12/21/rite-aid-not-ruling-out-more-store-closures/?sh=48dddb551b3e
They also announced that they over-projected losses due to theft:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/01/08/walgreens-overstated-retail-theft-shrink-executive/11014252002/
Interviewing store clerks, rather than corporate offices, is bound to result in the publication of bad or misleading information.
— “Interviewing store clerks, rather than corporate offices, is bound to result in the publication of bad or misleading information.”
Interviewing the clerks who are actually physically present in the store is less reliable about shoplifting from that store than interviewing people in “corporate offices” way off-site somewhere? Howzat??
Maybe you’ve never held that kind of job, but retail clerks at chain stores actually don’t get much insight into the balance sheet. Can they report about their own experience of retail theft while working? Sure. Do they have any real understanding of its financial impact? Nope.
Whenever you read these alarmist articles about shoplifting, pay attention to who the actual source is. Walgreens’s official statements got walked back…usually it’s some random low-level employee or cop speculating.
We all understood a decade ago that these chains were over-expanding. With the hit to all retail caused by COVID and Internet shopping, you don’t have to go far to understand why contraction is happening now.
True. But I have also talked to the guys who run a bodega near me, and they were telling me about how bad shoplifting has gotten for them
I know I never go CVS anymore because practically everything is locked up.
I don’t know how you came to that conclusion. Half way down the page in the newspaper article the following is stated:
“Rite Aid said it lost $5 million more from shrink in September than it did in the same period a year earlier, and weighed putting all items behind showcases or reducing store operations in some communities to offer pharmacy services only.”
The simple logic for the store owner is to close the stores in which shrink is the largest, and keep open the stores where the shrink is the smallest. The store owner should not be expected to “average out” shrink among all stores. On a number of occasions I saw people walk out of the Rite-Aid on 70th St/Amsterdam without paying, I am sure 97th Street is the same. I am sorry they are closing I found them better stocked than their two major chain store competitors.
I used the 97th St Rite-Aid a lot. Not a great store, but I knew where stuff was shelved, and some of the employees were nice and conscientious.
I saw a guy go through with a big sack, sweep Pampers into it, and saunter out. w/o paying.
5mill is .025% of annual their revenue ( 20billion,). so I doubt this is a factor.
$5 million was not the shrink for September, it was $5 million MORE in shrink than September 2021.
Whenever I see something bring those plastic locks in a pharmacy I just convince myself I don’t need the item or go and order from Amazon. Don’t need anything enough to try to track down a grumpy associate. Maybe that’s what’s driving away sales more than the shoplifting.
I’m the same way. I went into the Rite Aid on 97th for Vicks rub for my son because Target only had the infant one and it was all locked up. I had to wait 15 minutes for one of the associates to finish unlocking cabinets for other customers before finally getting to me. If I didn’t need it that day, I would’ve just ordered online, and I did afterward to have an extra one so I don’t have to go back.
I was tired of duane read and cvs years ago…long lines, mispricing. they cut staff in huge stores.
And great prices and sales! But maybe that was contributing to the problem!
That’s a perfect place for a waffle shop — kids coming out of the AMNH and getting a waffle makes perfect sense. Good to see them coming in.
And… we’re also getting another smoke shop. Little less excited about that.
Shedding a tear about Indie Food and Wine. Will the theatre be next? Too sad to contemplate. Looking for some good news.
I think the Indie space makes it tough to get business most of the day because there is no door to the street. People tend to go only before and after seeing a film. Every time I suggested to a friend we meet their for coffee or lunch I had to give very explicit directions. They all said “I’ve walked by here a hundred times and didn’t realize this was here”
At 4pm on a Thursday, it’s packed – a typical scene here mid week. Highly doubt that demand is the problem as Lincoln Center locals, faculty and students frequent this place throughout the day.
Agreed – need better marketing and signage . Lots of neighborhood folks would
Go there if they knew about it.
Such a wonderful place; it will be a big loss to the neighborhood! Better access and signage would have helped.
Rite Aid’s closing is a big loss, but there is IVAN PHARMACY, at 691 Columbus between 93rd and 94th streets, that will be able to fill prescriptions. Service at IVAN is prompt and courteous and their prices are lower than Rite Aid’s.
Besides Ivan’s there is Broadway Chemist on (duh) Broadway between 86 and 85. The store is the size of a walk-in closet, but the pharmacists, George and Lucas, have been in business for more than twenty years and go out of their way to provide great personal service. I’d rather do business with them than the hulking, anonymous CVS on the next block. Local business FTW!
Yes, Ivan is absolutely the best!
Yes! Ivan is so nice and so helpful- a good resource for the neighborhood
If you think the pharmacy shoplifting problem is limited to NYC, it’s not. I have friends in Vermont who say it’s happening there, too. People have realized that no one is going to stop you, and even if they did, the big chains don’t want to prosecute.
So glad about Wafels & Dinges. That corner has been empty for too long. And the waffle kabob is somewhat healthy — the majority is fruit.
Sad to see the Rite Aid close down, many elderly there rely on shopping there, guess Target across the streey will take it’s place now. I shop there often and have seen theft in progress many times with police on the scene, many items like cosmetics are locked up, and people don’t want to bother getting a store clerk to open a case , will go shop somewhere else.
Rite Aid vs. Zootiez – fewer pharmacies where seniors can get prescription medication, more pot stores where teens can get weed. You’re doing great, NYC !
Rite Aid is closing its last location in Inwood by EOM as well.
https://patch.com/new-york/washington-heights-inwood/rite-aid-closing-its-last-inwood-location-what-know
Rite Aid, Duane Reade, CVS, Walgreens and rest all have same major problem; decades after expanding into large stores that sold everything from health and beauty to housewares to groceries and so on then came arrival of online.
Amazon, Walmart, Target and rest are killing RA, DR, etc…
Things like toilet paper, laundry detergent, etc… that people once shopped for in person many now simply order online.
Rite Aide had great prices on paper and cleaning products _ have to move prescriptions now too, CVS and DR overcharge for same. Where to go.
?
The Jan 4 WSR story on CB7 included this item: “Approving the applications for several liquor licenses, including one for a new, still-unnamed indoor restaurant at 144 West 65th Street (by Film at Lincoln Center and Fireman Hospitality Group)…”. Could be a replacement for ‘Indie’?
2820 broadway isn’t 69 to 70 street. Not even close.
Thanks, fixed.
So sad about Indie. Loved it. Great food, nice atmosphere- a real oasis on those cafe-free blocks. But they had a terrible location for surviving a pandemic. With no one going to the indoor spaces around them, and no outdoor options…also shedding a tear!
Sad news about Indie. It was always reliable for a good cup of coffee on my way to work. Regarding “Zootiez,” I walked by this new establishment at around 9:30 pm Wednesday evening, and the vibe was undeniably creepy. I know that’s a pretty subjective statement but I’m confident a significant portion of Westsiderag readers would agree, had they observed what I did.
Gone are the Pharmacies that provide medicine to the sick and welcome to those that sell recently legalized narcotics. Welcome to the new normal.
How many smoke shops does one rather sedate neighborhood need? It seems there is one every four blocks now.
Same can be said for wine/liquor stores (at least 1 ever 4 blocks.) And liquor causes more car accidents than weed, is more addictive, and makes people violent. Look, these smoke shops are willing to pay NYC rent when nobody else want to. And they are paying badly needed NYC taxes. Live Free or Die Baby!
Indie Cafe has always been so crowded day and night. I am sad they are closing though imagine another cafe will replace it!
I’m going to miss indie. It was/is a go to lunch spot. I was so happy when they reopened after the pandemic, but this appears to be the end?
I went into North Face once and asked them if they had anything that was not made in China. They didn’t so I left.
“Three years of shoplifting, plus a rent increase, is why we are closing.” The new business mantra.
So many comments on here leave me depressed about our city. If this link works, here’s a memory of our subways in 1998. Love Train. I was born here in the early ’50s. Love New York so much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCMEEzyASZk
Premiere Manhattan apartment buildings like the Ansonia and the Apthorp should not have so many vacant retail spaces. The Apthorp is completely empty aside from the tailor. In no other major city in the world would this be normal.
Went into North Face and they said they were not running any sales. Everything remains full price. They said many people were coming in asking about the 40% and had to tell them it wasn’t real. All merch is being shipped to other locations.