By Scott Etkin and Lisa Kava
P.C. Richard & Son has opened at 2220 Broadway (on the corner of West 79th Street), completing the move from its longtime location a few blocks north on Broadway between West 86th and 87th streets. The new 30,000-square-foot space has three levels that showcase mattresses, home appliances, computers, electronics, TVs, and other high-end appliances. “It was an opportunity to grow our space and stay in the neighborhood,” said Eric Levy, Business Growth Director. “It’s very shopper-friendly. Stuff isn’t jumbled up in a small space. You can really understand the appliances.”
P.C. Richard is continuing to offer discounts to first responders (such as workers in the police and fire departments), and it is having a Labor Day sale of up to 40% off, plus other offers. Levy has also set up a helpline (nyc@pcrichardVIP.com) to support customers in the area with any questions. The new space has been vacant since 2022. Previously it was DSW (Designer Shoe Warehouse), and before that Filene’s Basement (both were discount designer shoes, clothing, and accessories stores).
Canto, an Italian restaurant at 2014 Broadway (between West 68th and 69th streets), had its soft opening on Tuesday, August 27. Canto already has a restaurant and cafe in the West Village, which opened in 2022. The UWS menu includes a variety of vegetarian, seafood, and meat small plates, pasta dishes, and much more. There’s also a separate weekend brunch menu. Reservations are available through Resy. The space used to be Sapphire Cuisine of India, which closed in 2019.
Supreme Shades & Drapes opened on June 5th at 453 Columbus Avenue (between West 81st and 82nd streets), we recently learned. Supreme does sales and installations of blinds, shades, shutters, curtains, and custom window treatments. The company has several other locations on Long Island. The space used to be Royal Opticians, which relocated to 466 Columbus Avenue (between 82nd and 83rd streets), in January of last year.
Appleton’s Marketplace has signage up at West 65th Street and West End Avenue. It replaces 110 West End Super, a deli and grocery store. We’ll post more information when it’s available. (Thanks to Rachel for the tip.)
Update: Hungarian Pastry Shop, the longtime cafe at 1030 Amsterdam Avenue (between West 110th and 111th streets) reopened on August 24th after being closed since early August for renovation. The work that required the space to be empty has been completed, a representative told WSR on a phone call, but the renovation isn’t quite finished. Work on a new mosaic, which will have a similar design to the previous one, is still underway. They are hoping for the project to be completed in mid-September.
Gelateria Gentile, a gelato shop, opened on August 19 at 498 Amsterdam Avenue (corner of West 84th Street). The Gentile family started the business in Southern Italy in 1880. This is the company’s fifth location in NYC. In addition to gelato, they serve coffee and pastries. West Side Kids, the longtime toy store that relocated around the corner last year, was formerly in the space.
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There are a lot of ice cream shops on Amsterdam now!
I really wish there were updates in the deli on 88th and West End. It was supposed to open last fall, I believe.
I don’t think there is a deli on 88th and West End. Do you mean broadway?
Gentile is excellent! I was told they have over 120 flavors and each day’s flavors arrive daily from Williamsburg. I guess that means I’ll have to keep going back to see what else they have.
Is this gelateria owned by the same Gentile family that has been running a superb grocery store on Madison Avenue in the 80s for three generations?
If you click on the link in the story it will take you to the ice cream website. They don’t seem to be connected with Gentile’s Fine Food on Madison. I work on the UES and and it amazes me that Gentile’s has managed to stay in business while everything around has been torn down and replaced over the years. It’s a great little gourmet store. : )
Which ” Superb” grocery store do you speak of ?
Gentile’s Fine Foods, which Caly mentioned.
I hope they improve the exterior of The Hungarian Pastry Shop. It needs a lot of work.
Ever since my favorite ice cream shop closed, I’ve been trying to replace it with a new one but haven’t been able to find a comparable option.
Gentile is the only one that comes a little bit close.
By the way, it would be great to see an update to Jacob’s Pickles move from Amsterdam to Columbus and 93rd. Does anyone know anything about it?
Hopefully the Hungarian Pastry Shop puts in a separate “Students & Tourists” counter so everyone else doesn’t have to wait forever for them to figure it out.
Before they moved to 79 Street, one of the sales team at PC Richard told me that Target was to occupy the space between 86-87 Street. Hope it’s true!
I feel like we need the old Woolworth’s back in that 79th and Broadway location. That old lunch counter that used those cone-shaped paper cups in those cone-shaped cup holders. Pets for sale. Racks of cheap plastic toys – mostly gun-based now that I think about it, so that would need to change a little. Stationary supplies. Makeup for Mom – or Dad, I guess, if he had secrets in the 1970s. That weird, sticky contact paper moms used to use to line their shelves and kitchen drawers.
The whole place smelled like linoleum and industrial cleaning fluid. Old ladies complaining “I remember when ‘Five and Dime’ actually meant a nickel and a dime! Who spends 40 cents just for a pack of hair nets?!”
Sometimes you’d go to the Woolworths on 110th and Broadway instead, just to see if that one had anything different – it didn’t. Or had anything better – not really. Or healthier parakeets in the Pet Department – they actually did, so I’d get mine there. They also had better pizza nearby, so it was worth the slightly longer trip uptown when you were 10.
1970s Pro Tip: Parakeets don’t like the cold or the sound of the screeching wheels of the IRT, so take the bus home if it’s too cold to walk home with them. Also, you’ve never seen anyone more disappointed than the 14-year old mugger who asked “What’s in the box, motherfucker?” When I said “A bird,” he just walked away.
West Side Ragged, your memories reminded me of a favorite song, “Love at the Five and Dime”, by another good story teller…
https://youtu.be/2GK462XnRjQ?si=N9_BUo4Dg7lGdRKy
Thank god most supplies are stationary! I have enough trouble finding them as it is.
Great stuff! Do you know when that location closed, and what the next tenant was?
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t Filene’s move in next? It must have been the mid 80s? Everything was changing by ’85-’86. Charavaris everywhere! Columbus was fully transformed. Amsterdam was then getting the same treatment. Broadway was starting to see green shoots of its own. The hookers in my neighborhood now stood in front of a Häagen Dazs not a head shop while soliciting business. The times they really were-a-changin’.
So many fond memories of my days hanging out at the Hungarian Pastry shop. Many interesting characters and conversationalists! I’ll never forget when I asked a fellow what he was drinking because it looked tasty and his reply was “I have to tell you right now things are not going to work out between us. You look like you like to have fun and I haven’t had fun since 1989…” He was assuming a lot from my innocent question!!! He wasn’t bad looking, but I wasn’t trying to pick him up!
Hey if we’re going down memory lane , remember hot sox stores? they were everywhere !
My favorite Pizza place, corner of 78/Broadway was “Pizza Town” in the 1990’s. Yes, Filenes moved to where Sephora is now Ansonia location , it truly was now literally “basement bargains’’. 79th and Broadway after Filene’s became Fox’s store also a discount designer store.