There is something about big box stores that brings out irrational hatred. Especially in Brooklyn.
Now that plans for a 52,000-square foot Whole Foods store are hurtling toward groundbreaking, Brooklynites have been forced to confront their fears that without dogged opposition, the borough might come to resemble the kind of suburban hellhole found in the southern or central U.S. Or the Upper West Side, even. Read More
With longer days and warmer nights, the desire to stay outside can be downright overwhelming, just like when we were kids, ignoring our mother’s call to come home. The new crop of colorful furnishings for outdoor living provides the perfect excuse to stay out after dark, light up the barbecue and check out the night Read More
BJ’s Wholesale Club is poised to join Ikea as the newest big-box store in Red Hook, according to the Brooklyn Paper, confirming predictions that the quaint neighborhood is fast becoming popular with unbecoming mega-retailers.
Here’s the paper’s scoop:
"BJ’s Wholesale Club, the members-only retail chain, is close to finalizing a deal to Read More
On a recent warm summer evening, two young professional couples sat idly chatting before a performance of Hamlet at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater.
"Have you been to the new Ikea in Red Hook?" one of the young men asked his companions, receiving a chorus of "no, not yet!" in response.
On came a list Read More
Ikea Red Hook has survived its first weekend in Brooklyn. To commemorate, we dedicated several hours to the Ikea experience, starting with their free (for now) water taxi, which departs every 10 minutes from Wall Street’s Pier 11.
The water taxi itself was surprisingly empty and prompt, and filled with happy customers carrying houseplants. Read More
Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz and City Planning Director Amanda Burden, among others, sawed a log to open the new Red Hook Ikea today.
In this week’s print Observer, Benjamin Popper profiles Greg O’Connell, Red Hook’s biggest landlord and the de facto godfather of the new big-box.
With the opening of a massive 346,000-square-foot Ikea in Red Hook on June 18, New Yorkers’ attention turns again to this tiny corner of Brooklyn waterfront. What they see is largely the legacy of one man, Greg O’Connell, the beat cop turned real estate baron.
At times, Mr. O’Connell can seem Read More
We don’t want to tumble into too much Ikea-related hype, but the below release dropped into our inbox this morning. (In tomorrow’s Observer, we’ll have a profile of the Godfather of the Red Hook Ikea. Hint: he’s in real estate.)
ONLY 22 HOURS, 10 MINUTES AND 30 SECONDS UNTIL 1st ikea store in NEW Read More
With all the pretty new parks rising (or at least planned to rise) along the city’s waterfront, one might think that shipping uses were simply a thing of the past.
Not exactly, says a city-commissioned study of “maritime support services,” which claims the port of New Read More
