“We were lucky because we did have some instant regulars,” said Ms. Nelson, name-dropping the popular comedian and self-confessed chocoholic Janeane Garofalo. (In a Jan. 7 interview with Gothamist, Ms. Garofalo indicated that, with the East Village Chocolate Bar now closed, she was “forced to go to Max Brenner, chocolate by the bald man, which is always packed, but they have a nice white hot chocolate.”)
Still, the relocated business had a long ways to go. “It would have taken five years to build out the East Village to a place I wanted it,” Ms. Nelson said.
It wasn’t long before a more tantalizing opportunity came along. “Literally, we weren’t open for a week,” said Ms. Nelson, “when one of our old regulars who came in every day in the West Village rode a bike over to the East Village. She’s like, ‘We miss you so much,’ and, ‘Oh, and by the way, my commercial tenant might be retiring.’”
The patron and potential landlord would stay in touch over the coming months, as Ms. Nelson began to notice some other curious developments in her old neighborhood: “My daughter goes to school down at P.S. 3, so I’m walking up and down Hudson and Eighth Avenue every day, and one by one, I’m watching all these stores close and I’m like, ‘What the hell is happening?’”
Retail rents across the city began to recede from record highs reached prior to the financial meltdown that began last fall. Even in pricey Soho, asking rents have dropped $13 per square foot on average since 2007, according to figures released earlier this month from Cushman & Wakefield. Cushman’s New York COO Joseph Harbert predicted that “expected declines in consumer spending and tourism … will translate into further retail availability and a deceleration of average asking rents in 2009.”
Amid this new economic climate, the formerly priced-out chocolatier was hoping to negotiate a sweet deal on her homecoming.
“For me, it’s funny that this whole economic hell has kind of reopened doors that had been closed only seven months ago,” said Ms. Nelson, who fortunately kept in touch with many of her original West Village customers during her brief stay on East Seventh Street and even offered free deliveries for those that didn’t want to make the crosstown trek.
“It’s kind of true, the whole Starbucks thing, about how they open on both sides of the avenue because New Yorkers don’t want to cross the street,” she said.
“I can’t fault my West Village customers for not coming and seeing us more often,” she added, “because I hated taking the freaking train to the East Village myself.”
CORRECTION: The original article erroneously stated that Ms. Nelson had signed a new lease at 23 Eighth Avenue, taking over the current House of Cards & Curiosities, whose longtime operator was planning to retire. In fact, Ms. Nelson had no formal agreement in place to lease the space. Moreover, the House of Cards owner, James Waits, indicated he had no plans to retire. To the contrary, Mr. Waits said he was in talks with the landlord to renew and extend his lease. The Observer regrets the errors.
Follow Chris Shott via RSS.
