By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
Restore Hyper Wellness, a center for physical recovery treatments, is opening on the corner of 92nd Street and Columbus. They offer a variety of services for rejuvenation, including: red light therapy, infrared sauna, compression boots, and cryotherapy (super-cold temperatures), among other spa-like treatments. There is another Restore on the Upper West Side on 76th Street, which opened earlier this year. It’s the first time the retail space on 92nd has been filled since construction on the building was completed a few years ago. (Thanks to Leslie for the tip.)
Sforno Pizza at 2393 Broadway between 87th and 88th Streets has closed. The website thanks its customers for their support and says “we are looking for ways to deliver our high-quality pizza in the city in some shape or form….Our brick and mortar is now closed but we will be back somewhere.” A sign on the storefront says that the space is closed for renovation. The pizzeria opened this location around three years ago. (Thanks to Sandy for the tip.)
Patisserie Chanson, a high-end cafe, has opened on the corner of Broadway and 70th Street. The menu includes coffee, croissants, and cakes, as well as some inventive drinks like strawberry matcha and a honey vanilla-rose latte. Pastry chef Rory Macdonald opened the first Chanson in the Flatiron District in 2016 with a dessert-bar tasting menu. There are also locations in Tribeca and on the Upper East Side. The Upper West Side location is open Tuesday to Sunday from 8am to 6pm. The space used to be a T-Mobile store.
Aquarius Hardware at 601 Amsterdam (between 89th and 90th Streets) is closing in August after 25 years at this location. They do not have an exact closing date, a manager told the Rag. The store will hold a 25% off sale beginning Thursday, July 6th. The manager told WSR that the sale will likely increase to 50% off at some point in the coming weeks, depending on inventory. (Thanks to Ital for the tip.)
And check out ALL the Upper West Side Openings so far this year here.
I liked Sforno’s pizza, the crust was thick. However on one occasion while waiting for my slices to warm up, a wild eyed, apparently unhoused, person came in and asked for money and started yelling at me for ignoring him/not giving him any. No employee intervened and I decided I would no longer patronize an establishment in which I felt unsafe.
I’ve been staying on the UES for a couple and there are an infinite number of homeless men on Lexington and Third Avenue (which I hadn’t noticed before). What surprised me though, was that employees at most of the shops/restaurants came out and gave them food. It would have been nice if one of the employees at Sforno’s would have given that man free a slice.
There you go. Enable bad behavior by giving away free slices to homeless people that then attracts more homeless people who deter paying customers from frequenting the establishment. That sounds like a successful business model.
Or maybe they just care about people. And, since they’re handing out pizza, sandwiches and water, there’s no reason to harass the customers is there? There used to be a deli/pizza place on 72nd next to Joseph Pharmacy that fed a homeless woman every day and she sat at the tables in the back with the customers. When I moved to that block I thought I was really lucky to be living in that neighborhood.
The question is – do YOU care about people? How come you dismiss the concerns of the patrons who don’t want to be assaulted by the mentally ill aggressive homeless individual or the businesses and their employees that close because having aggressive panhandlers don’t contribute to their survival?
Are you implying that the rest don’t care about people? Most shops give good to the homeless, however with sheer amount of them in the neighborhood it is no longer sustainable. It is no longer how it was in the past when you saw same familiar faces and give them food. The new wave includes mentally ill and very aggressive panhandlers. Nobody wants to me smacked in the head, so yes, people would avoid establishments where aggressive panhandling takes place.
I think the sidewalk shed in front of Sforno did it in. When those things go up foot traffic at storefronts drops by like 20% (according to a person I know in the restaurant biz). When will the city repeal local law 11? It’s really destructive , killing workers, costing jobs, blighting the city, and costing co-ops and landlords (and their tenants) billions. End the madness PLEASE.
A piece of masonry fell off my building on WEA a couple of years ago. Thankfully no one was hurt. These inspections are necessary and life-saving.
Debby- a worker died last year doing LL11 work on West End Avenue and 72nd, one of many worker injuries and deaths from the vaguely necessary inspections and work under LL11. While its possible that the piece of masonry from your building MAY have hurt someone (depending on when and where it fell), the required inspections and “repairs” are killing workers. The law needs to be repealed.
You don’t need a sidewalk shed for years on end for an inspection. My building had an inspection last month. It was a guy in a large cherry picker going up 21 stories. The shed law is ridiculous, every 5 years they must go up for work that’s not always necessary.
I used to live just a couple blocks from where the Barnard student was killed in 1980. A valid question, though, is, do inspections have to be every five years for buildings over six stories? After an inspection, what about 8 years till the next one? Borough Pres Mark Levine was advocating something like that.
Or at least, extend the number of years before a building has to test their facade again.
The biggest issue with LL11 is that the cycle is fixed, regardless of when the work is completed. If you start the work today and it takes 2 years, you have to inspect again 3 years later, not 5 years after the work is completed.
Total scam.
Definitely needs to be changed. Maybe 8 years after completion of work?
They can keep the five year cycle, but at least start it after the end of the work period. This will have two big positive impacts:
– reduction of costs/burden on the building (and hence apartment owners)
– reduction in the amount of scaffolding across the city (big issue as well)
But at the same time no loss of safety as the five year limit is still in effect.
It should not take much to effect this regulatory change.
One of the last actual hardware stores left (versus shrink wrap stores) . Will be greatly missed.
There is a terrific store on the East Side – Rainbow Hardware on First Avenue & 74th
A bit too far for most of us UWSers. There’s a decent place on west side of Bwy in the low 80s…two floors, clean. It’s no Aquarius but am glad to have it.
If you’re referring to Basics, on Broadway around 83/84, I think it’s close enough. It has mostly housewares on the ground floor but has a lot of hardware items in the basement.
Aquarius was such a great store, and the staff very helpful. You don’t find stores like that anywhere anymore.
Honestly I could never find what I needed at Aquarius. And every key they made for me didn’t work!
Brickman’s is trying hard, and my fingers are crossed for their success, but Aquarius was one of a kind, a place where homeowners as well as supers and contractors could find whatever they need, from power tools to toilet seats. Going further back, I remember with affection the big store further north on Columbus where you could pick as many bolts or screws as you needed from wooden drawers. Today’s “hardware” stores are mostly housewares emporia, with real hardware as a secondary thing.
Where is Brickman’s?
Basics on Broadway was pretty good the couple of times I went there. Hopefully, they will still be there!
Brickman’s is the Ace ;hardware store on Columbus between 90th and 91st — and the Brickman’s name was added to the storefront only fairly recently,
Brickmans used to be AJO. Still Ace Hardware.
Hope that Chanson does not adversely impact on Epices bakery on 70th (former Soutine location)
Epices has amazing baquettes, eclairs….
Epices is a hidden gem. And the bagged cookies are out of this world.
I won’t miss Sforno. Pizza was average, workers were sometimes distracted and it just took too long to order food and actually get it, even if the place was empty. The extremely aggressive panhandler that stood right outside the door did not help.
So sorry that Aquarius is leaving – I have gone to them for everything it seems like forever. and the other hardware stores in our area just don’t measure up. Sigh.
Am I imagining things or was the closing of Aquarius announced a little while ago?
Wish the old Hot and Crusty( I think that was the name) never left. Being replaced by Sforno’s pizza was not needed.
Hot and Crusty was a ripoff. $12 for a BLT and a Snapple that would be $7 tops anywhere else. They deserved to go out of business.
Telios, Lenny’s Bagels, Aquarius Hardware all closed or closing. This is getting scary. If Kouzan, Ivan and Mani’s close, I’m leaving! (Well, not really but I’ll feel like it!)
Sforno will be missed. Solid, reliable pizza. I don’t like anything fancy – one or two slices of cheese pizza or a pie for the family – and they did the job. I also liked the place up by Telio and that is gone. The place diagonal from Telio on the East side of Broadway has funky crusts that aren’t good.
Sorry to hear about the hardware store – I have never been but heard good things. That is a big space to fill.
Little Italy. For some reason they put these crunchy things on the crust, and then leave the pies sitting around for hours and hours before they reheat a slice for you.
I loved “The Restaurant” at the Gilder Center located at the American Museum of Natural History overlooking the beautiful new gardens and landscape. What a beautiful place to have lunch and then tour the new museum. Dinning overlooking the spectacular architecture of the sunlit Kenneth C. Griffin Atrium the central space of the Museum’s new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. Such class this restaurant has at the museum. After lunch and a tour of the museum a walk outside to the center gardens and admire the beautiful architect of the museum. Truly a wonderful place to visit for all age’s.
… a wonderful place as long as your tour does not include looking through the windows in the walls of the paid exhibits. i was not allowed by security to get closer than 25’ from the windows to the butterfly exhibit.
Maybe they flagged you….. it’s a wonderful exhibit for all the family of all ages. A great experience!
Was it because of crowding? I thought this was one of the exhibits that was timed and you were allowed to be close up for 15 minutes. My family had taken their younger kids last week, but I want to take the older ones and cover more ground. This is one of the exhibits that I’m particularly interested in, but I can’t seem to get anyone on the phone to answer questions.
It is a beautiful exhibit as you walk into the first room, and they close the door behind to entering in to the second area of the butterflies exhibit, it was breathtaking! Butterflies flying all around you and landing on you. Maybe “Geoff ” was flagged….. You must go see it!!!
Thank you so much for the feedback, I really appreciate it! I’m looking forward to seeing it. : )
Really sad about Aquarius.
Not everything can be restaurants or food places.
A neighborhood needs small shops and retail.
Very depressing to think of a community of only food places, nail salons, pot shops – and non-stop Amazon delivery ….
Agreed. I was up in Saratoga, NY yesterday walking around in their downtown. Independent shops, hardware, crafts, records, books, so much diversity, and of course loads of restaurants, cafes, diners.
I was jealous of what they have, which is ridiculous considering I live in NYC, the so called “greatest city in the world.”
I’m really sad about Aquarius – they have been great (lots of useful things, helpful staff). I will miss them!
Sorry to hear about Sforno and especially Aquarius.
Just passed by a new shop Lungta (Columbus near 71st?) which sells lovely scarves, blankets and other items sourced from Tibet.