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.
Sneaker Corner's old look - Source: Google Maps
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.
Screenshot from iShopBrooklyn.com
In an effort to bolster neighborhood economic centers across the borough, Borough President Marty Markowitz has launched Shop Brooklyn, a partnership with more than 190 Brooklyn businesses to offer back-to-school and other promotions.
The problem is, none of the businesses are in the Sheepshead Bay area, and only a smattering are in Southern or Eastern Brooklyn.
We found just five establishments in the seven area codes that cover Sheepshead Bay and nearby communities.
Keep reading to find out what’s wrong with the Borough President’s planning, and see which (somewhat) local stores are participating.
No, it’s not the same photo from yesterday. It’s a brand new photo taken around 4:00 p.m. today. Look close. Really, really close.
KamaSutra, the scandalous ‘sex shop’ we told you about this morning, did indeed make good on its promise to Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz. The did change their 1717 Sheepshead Bay Road window display. But only a careful eye would notice.
Keep reading after the jump, to see more photos (sorry, too provocative for our front page) and find out what changed.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The photos after the jump show closeups of some of the items in the window display. Some may consider the images graphic. The images may not be safe for viewing in a work environment.
Find out what’s still in KamaSutra’s display, and what’s not.
A “sex shop” opened on Sheepshead Bay Road this Tuesday, and its risqué window display is getting residents hot under the collar, spurring one local politician to take action.
KamaSutra at 1717 Sheepshead Bay Road sells skimpy lingerie, sex toys, novelties and massage oils, in addition to a handful of unrelated merchandise like glass pipes and water pipes.
The owner, who declined to give a name other than “John,” said he’s been running shops like KamaSutra for thirty years. He thought Sheepshead Bay is as good a location as any to pimp his provocative products.
“A place like this is going to work anywhere,” he said. “We’re all the same. We all use lingerie, we use toys. This can work anywhere.”
But some residents and store owners along Sheepshead Bay Road want KamaSutra out, saying it doesn’t belong in the neighborhood.
Read neighbors’ objections to Sheepshead Bay’s
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.
Walmart’s best opportunity for a Brooklyn location is still the soon-to-be-built Gateway II development. But one lawmaker said he’s got the developer’s word that Walmart won’t be considered.
City Councilman Charles Barron, whose district covers the proposed Gateway II shopping center, said he extracted a promise during the site’s approval process that Related Cos. – the developer – wouldn’t accept Walmart as an anchor tenant.
“I had to accept Related’s verbal commitment,” Barron told NY Post. “If they want to go against their word, they’re going to have to deal with city officials in other projects who will see them as a company that cannot be trusted.”
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Kings Highway businesses got a measure of relief from the Department of Transportation, which added an hour to the time limit of meters along the busy commercial strip.
The Kings Highway Business Improvement District championed the issue back in April, sending letters to the DOT requesting the meters be changed. They argued that shoppers need at least two hours to visit multiple stores and do their shopping. One-hour muni-meters installed six weeks ago just didn’t give enough time, and it was hurting businesses, they said.
“Our patience and persistence paid off because shopping, browsing and making multiple purchases at multiple locations cannot be accomplished in one hour,” Kings Highway Business Improvement District Executive Director Phil Nuzzo told Courier-Life.
The change to two-hour limits will take effect by the end of the summer.
Though Walmart hasn’t confirmed any Brooklyn openings, they’ve started taking on critics who say their non-union jobs would do harm to the borough’s workforce.
“A majority of national retail is non-union,” Steven Restivo, Walmart’s director of community affairs, told Brooklyn Paper. “When you look at retail and what we offer employees, we’re very competitive to both full-time and part-time workers.” He added that chain stores as Target, Walgreens, Best Buy, Home Depot and Lowe’s are all non-union.
An employee at one of Target’s three Brooklyn locations told the paper part-time employees start at $8.50 an hour, comparable to wages earned at a New Jersey Walmart. According to an employee, part-time Walmart employee wages range from $8–$15 per hour, depending on department.
But union reps aren’t buying it. They say Walmart is different than Target because of the larger role it plays in the American business scene. Walmart is the nation’s top retailer in sales, while Target is the fifth largest.
“Walmart may create jobs on the front end, but they erode them later,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of the city’s retail, wholesale and department store union, told the paper. “Union-busting, neighborhood-crushing Walmart forces out good jobs and reliable retailers while bringing down wages and benefits.”
Courtesy of Koonisutra via Flickr
From Crain’s New York:
The 630,000-square-foot Gateway II shopping center off Jamaica Bay in Brooklyn is among the sites Walmart is eyeing in a renewed push to build its first New York City store, sources familiar with the situation say.
Union leaders, fearful of a potential Walmart deal at the Related Cos.-owned site near Spring Creek Towers, are planning a protest in the next 10 days, but so far both the Arkansas-based retail giant and the developer insist there is nothing to announce.
“We know that New Yorkers want to shop and work at Walmart, and as a result, we continue to evaluate potential opportunities here,” says Steven Restivo, the company’s director of community affairs. “New Yorkers want quality jobs and affordable groceries, and it remains our goal to be part of the solution.”
So far, no lease has been signed between Walmart and Related Cos. But, according to Crain’s, Gateway offers an as-of-right development site, meaning Walmart’s plans won’t need to be voted on by the City Council, where the elected are heavily dependent on union votes.
Gateway is also looking pretty snazzy to Walmart suits because it has a “low-income population nearby and pent-up demand for jobs and supermarkets.”
Walmart in Brooklyn’s Gateway Shopping Center? Keep reading.
