SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Dynasty Sports opened last Friday, filling the storefront at 1612 Sheepshead Bay Road that has sat empty since the neighborhood greasy spoon New Clements Restaurant closed last August.

The store sells sneakers, sportswear and accessories from brand names including Adidas, Reebok, Nike, The North Face and more. To celebrate their grand opening, they’re offering 40 percent off merchandise all week long.

“The people around here are classy people,” said store manager Mike Abd. “They’re looking for something fashionable and we want to give them something they’ll like.”

The store is the most recent expansion of a 15-year-old business, with five other locations around the borough. Two of the other locations use the name MetroSport.

After much waiting by frustrated bargain seekers, it looks like Loehmann’s Sheepshead Bay location is opening this Thursday, February 11, and we’re happy to see that one of the pillars of the Emmons Avenue economy is getting back on its feet.

Loehmann’s (2027 Emmons Avenue) has sent out notices to local customers and through its Facebook account about this week’s opening. The store has been closed since a November 21 fire ripped through XO Creperie next door. Loehmann’s originally planned to reopen after Thanksgiving, but later sent out a notice to “Loehmann’s E-mail Insider” subscribers saying they would remain closed until further notice.

Still, the two other businesses on the second floor of Loehmann’s Seaport Plaza remain closed – probably for good. Fire damage at XO Creperie spills out onto the patio’s ceiling, and Passage looks abandoned (which didn’t stop amNY from recommending a meal there last week).

Potpourri Women's Sportswear Leaves Smelly Sheepshead Bay Rd

Due to an offensive smell — and an even more offensive rental rate — the Potpourri Women’s Sportswear store will be closing its Sheepshead Bay doors for the final time, tomorrow.

Standing in her store nearly emptied of its stock, one of the owners, Elsa McGlone, said:

After so many years, we are very sorry that we are leaving. Our regular customers already know we are leaving. It’s because of the smell. They [the landlords] are not doing anything about that smell and nobody wants to shop, here, with that smell. That’s not for a clothing store. It’s coming from the two stores next door. On one side, there is a fish smell, and on the other there is a sewage problem. Sheepshead Bay is not like it used to be.

In truth, the horrendous stink could be detected even by passersby on the sidewalk. One woman, who stopped to look at the clothing in the foyer area window display, said just before she covered her nose and mouth, “Uggh, it smells like dead rats, over here, still after all this time. Even with 60 percent off, I’m not going in there.”

When asked if the sad demise of her store had anything to do with rental rates going as high as $3K a month, the owner balked, “Three thousand? Try eight thousand! Such rent is not for a women’s clothing store on Sheepshead Bay Road.” She added that her store is not going to shut down for good, since they are looking for a suitable place to relocate,  and promised to let us know as soon as they find a new spot.

The stock has left the building, but the stink remains.

Potpourri owners post sign thanking customers.