Now word is coming in from tipster extraordinaire BrooklynQ that the Walgreens at 1721 Avenue U (between East 17th Street and East 18th Street) is closed for business.
The closing shows that the chain is not at all timid in shuttering newly-constructed facilities. This particular location was previously the last bastion of our beloved local chain Morris Discount, which Walgreens purchased in June 2008. Since it took up the property, it seems work on it has been never-ending, with a storefront expansion a year ago, and finally a reconstructed facade just finished within the last few months.
And now… it’s closed. For good. A whole lot of work for nothing, and a storefront not so easily adjusted for non-Walgreens uses. What will happen to the newly-completed Bragg Street Walgreens, which sits in spitting distance from the high-traffic Duane Reade Nostrand Avenue location? We don’t know, but if they shut it down it means an entire new construction goes to waste…
But back to 1721 Avenue U – be advised that pharmacy records have been transferred to the Duane Reade at 1417 Avenue U.
A reader sent us this photo and a note saying Century Mart of Avenue U, located at 2309 Avenue U, appears to be closed for good. The Asian food market has served the neighborhood for several years, and there didn’t seem to be any advance notice about its closure. We tried calling the business’s number, but found it was disconnected.
In the window of the store is a sign advertising commercial lofts for rent on the second and third floors of the building, but no information about the ground-level business. Could it be temporary? Keep an eye on this space and let us know if you see any changes.
A crew of thieves with a birds-eye view of Sheepshead Bay broke into two stores last week.
Workers at Viva, which is on Sheepshead Bay Road between Jerome and Voorhies avenues, said someone cut through the roof on Aug. 11 and removed an undisclosed amount of cash from the register. Workers said that thieves entered the store the same way on Aug. 4.
On Aug. 9 thieves made it to the roof of the Leah Discount, which is on Nostrand Avenue between Avenues T and U, and tunneled their way inside, taking $950 in cash, police said.
Looks like local business owners need to start considering ways to make their rooftops more secure. Any ideas?
Here’s another burglary report from this week’s blotter:
A woman spotted two thieves breaking into her Sheepshead Bay home on Aug. 12.
The woman said that she was sitting in a rear bedroom in her Avenue Y home, which is between E. 11th and E. 12th streets, at 9:45 pm when she heard a noise and saw a beam from a flashlight pass by her door.
She went to investigate and found two thieves in her alleyway. They had just left the home through a kitchen window after stealing her laptop computer, police said.
Three businesses on and around Nostrand Avenue are fixin’ up the joint, including Brooklyn’s Sneaker Corner, which redid its storefront. The decades old business at 3570 Nostrand Avenue has a new look with a real sign on the way. It’s old sign has been a Sheepshead Bay fixture with a lot of character, so I look forward to see if the new sign will be an improvement to this rather dreary stretch of Nostrand Avenue businesses.
Currently closed for renovations are two Avenue U businesses a few blocks shy of Nostrand Avenue. Pizzeria Del Corso (3003 Avenue U) has been closed since at least last week with a sign in the window informing readers of the work going on inside. No word on when it’ll reopen. Also, Jay & Lloyd’s Kosher Deli at 2718 Avenue U is shuttered for repairs. We’ll let you know when the area’s only kosher-style deli is reopened. I hear good things about this place, but never had the chance to try it. I’ll remedy that when doors are open again.
Residents living along the border of Sheepshead Bay and Marine Park now have a new store to pick up their Coca-Cola, canned beans and candy bars. GRA Convenient opened last week on the corner of Avenue U and Haring Street.
Stocked with the usual bodega merchandise, the owners are waiting for their permits to sell booze. There’s a sandwich counter for people to sit and eat the store’s Boar’s Head sandwiches, but don’t look for ham – it looks like they’re keeping halal. (An employee said it will be a “mixed” store, but the display was conspicuous in its absence of pork products.)
The space was previously occupied by Car Toys U.S.A., which sold automotive accessories.
Everyone knows that you can lose weight by eating Subway sandwiches. But did you know if you get the right combination of bread, meat, cheese and condiments you can actually travel back in time? It’s true!
Here’s the recipe: 9-grain honey oat bread, Monterey cheddar cheese, Black Forest ham, lettuce, LSD, red onions, jalapeños, meth and chipotle sauce. Don’t forget to pick up a bag of Sun Chips… you’re going to need them where you’re going.
And now there’s a new location for you to have this sandwich carelessly slopped together with subpar ingredients (well, almost all the ingredients listed above). A Subway Restaurant is now open at 1806 1817 Avenue U, just off East 19th Street. They’ve replaced a beauty supply store that offered absolutely nothing to the time traveling community.
Calabrese Pizza & Restaurant is slated to begin serving up brick oven pizza at 2224 Avenue U very soon, it seems. The dough-tossers tossed up their signage just a few days ago.
We’re wishing them the best, because it seems like the storefront may be cursed. Remember Tai Yuan? Well, then you’ve got a good memory for short-lived businesses of total insignificance. They occupied the spot for just a few weeks before shutting down in April. And before that was Tai Shan, which lived a little longer, but still didn’t amount to more than a blip on the local gastronomical scene.
Good luck, Calabrese. The area needs some brick ovens, and hopefully you’ll wrangle a name for yourself as one of the few to service the niche. Then again, we also need some Thai…
Tomorrow heralds the grand opening of Lowe’s Home Improvement in Mill Basin. The home improvement store on Avenue U and East 55th Street will welcome shoppers with an appearance by former Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez, according to a report in Courier-Life. They’re also featuring a “board-cutting ceremony” instead of a ribbon-cutting, meaning workers will saw through a plank of wood. Oooh, how clever.
Of course, some community members are still smarting over the expected traffic snafus the Lowe’s parking lot will cause, with an entrance/exit leading to Avenue U. Some are asking for a traffic light, while others would like to see a dedicated turn lane. The Department of Transportation will conduct a traffic study after it opens to determine need, and is also sending a rep to the Mill Basin Civic Association’s September meeting.
When I first asked them to put me up on this site for the shopping cart series, the answer I got was, “You don’t have a story. You’re just doing your job at this store. Nothing too amazing about that.” I told them that although I’m employed in Sheepshead Bay’s Little Chinatown at this housewares store — the name of which I cannot read as it is written in the symbols of a Chinese language — and I may seem a little boring, I’m still quite colorful.
When this picture was taken, it was early spring. The temperature was still jacket-worthy and the flowers had not yet blossomed. The bright colors of my cargo made me stand out from the rest. Summer will soon be here (officially, that is) and my brightness will be outdone by the sun. In the meantime, I’m your shopping cart, bringing you a little color. No story, just a little color.
We told you about Chila Lati’s case earlier this month, in which she stood accused of attacking a traffic agent. Lati claimed she was at her local Yeshiva at the time, and that the charges were for another Chila Lati. Turns out, her case came together pretty well – Lati was cleared of all charges yesterday. Meanwhile, prosecutors have a mouthful of feet, as they try to figure out how they went forward with a case that made no sense to begin with. Also, we’re pretty sure the traffic agent will be awarded a medal for superior competence since, well, that’s how it works with traffic agents, isn’t it?
