Long Island City’s Vernon/Jackson experiencing major retail downturn

You’re wrong #1. Purple Pumpkin will definitely be missed.

So we already witnessed the boom on Vernon Boulevard? Where were all the tremendous retail benefits that the towers were supposed to inject into the local economy? All we’re left with is a bunch of vacant storefronts with sky high rents. Once again, conventional wisdom falls flat on its face.

I have to agree with #5.–and it’s not only Manhattan. I’ll run over to Northern or Costco for things I need. Stores like Bed Bath and Beyond, the Container Store, Home Depot, all stores that carry things that people in new homes need (and others too) are simply too big for Vernon. Although a small hardware store for things like the picture hooks you forgot at Home Depot would rack it up.

This LIC resident is envious.

Yesterday I was in Williamsburg, walking on Bedford Ave. Wow, it’s like night and day. So many people strolling up and down the street, with tons of nice stores and lots of restaurants and cafes. Loved the Bedford Cheese Shop. Why can’t we find a way to support something similar?

#5, 6 & 7 are right. Most of these business had ill concieved business plans and were doome to fail anyway. The recession probably just hasted it. Anyone wanting to successfully open a new business here needs to cater to the new population. Most are renters, most are young, most are professionals. Most are not interested in buying antique furniture, or floral arrangements. If they are interested it only on occasion, and certainly not enough to draw regular traffic and repeat customers.

To #4, there still are tremendous retail benefits that the towers inject into the local economy. If you lived here 10 years ago you would know that.

#10, again. To #11′s point I would add one thing – they need to be good. There are a few horrible establishments on Vernon, that no one I know goes to which are probably also on deathwatch.

So LIC is an overpriced bedroom community? Awesome.

Greenpoint and Williamsburg look better and better every day…

#8, Williamsburg is a global cultural hub serving people throughout the city (and from around the world!)… Vernon Blvd serves mainly people living within a few blocks. That’s a key reason why so little is going on comparatively.

IMO the only type of business that can survive in the long term is a high volume high turnover business. Let’s face it. It will be hard to draw people from outside the neigborhood, so you better know your customer. They are not interested in cashing checks or eating in dumpy environments. Enough with the Asian resturants and bodegas. You are all canabolizing each others sales. Regarding rents the market will set the prices. If people are willing to lease at 9000K a month then that is what the price should be. Just don’t sign a lease if you know you can’t do that volume of business.

Did anyone notice that there’s a global economic meltdown going on? Things are going to get worse before they get better.

As long as the developers market LIC as a Manhattan bedroom community, it’ll continue to attract new residents who treat it as such.

16, Even before W’burg became the hot spot for Euro-trash, back in its scuzzy early 90s arty-heyday, people were still hanging out on Bedford in greater numbers than they do on Vernon today. The neighborhood had more time to attract a retail base because rents didn’t go through the roof overnight. I agree with the posters who place the blame on greedy landlords and speculators for the current state in LIC.

NY Times article from 1999 on why Williamsburg happened but LIC hadn’t (hasn’t). Explains a lot.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9802E6DB163AF934A35752C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all

Philadelphia is the new Williamsburg. NYC is done.

Good riddance, Court Square Diner is way better and cheaper and open all night.

I think that the property ownership is really the root behind LIC’s stagnation. LIC has a totally different history than Williamsburg and not just because it’s been commercially stable, as the throwback article provided by #24 hypothesized. A lot of the owners of retail on Vernon also live in the buildings… not necessarily true of Bedford Street, whose original owners during the ‘transition’ were mostly Jewish, owning lots of different properties, and not really caring who the tenants were so much, as long as they could get their monthly rent. In LIC that’s never been the case. These buildings are owned by people who’ve lived there through some generations and maybe bought it for a sheckle when the city was giving buildings away. They care about who’s underneath them, and that’s why we don’t have a ton of bars and restaurants like Bedford. Which is good. I hate the night scene on Bedford. It’s what St. Marks used to be, which is not bad, just don’t want to live on that. We don’t want Rivington Street either. But it would be great if we could have like a Smith St vibe… it’s not going to happen on Vernon though. The people who own those buildings have a different mentality and don’t want that. Could have happened on 5th if they planned it properly. And the tower traffic would definitely have trafficked… but nobody really things into the future anymore apparently.

But even Smith Street… I don’t know, the sort of people who move into LIC vs. South Brooklyn are different it seems. More Manhattan-oriented? Less into history, human scale, neighborhood life? This is just my general observation from walking around Gentrified Brooklyn vs. Gentrified LIC… a typical tower dweller here seems to have differen values/aesthetics than a typical brownstone dweller, let alone a North Brooklyn creative-type. This is a broad generalization obviously, but I think this sort of clustering does exist and is maybe why we don’t have the same sort of establishments as similarly expensive Brooklyn neighborhoods.

You have a point… it’d do way better in Greenpoint. And I think that neighborhood fits the \speakeasy\ vibe more naturally than a spot with a lot of glassy towers around it.

I have a car…dont need to shop on vernon. I can always get something better and cheaper hopping into the car.

35. You really aren’t funny. I really don’t know how else to put it to you. The “joke” was really stunk the first time and is ripening with each time it’s repeated. Please stop. Please?

#39 there are a ton of glassy towers over there. Obviously you don’t leave the waterfront much?

Michigan has plenty of places to buy records, i suggest you go back there.

And who listens to records idiot! Midwest hipsters with ugly girlfriends and tight jeans.

Reading your comment just made us all a little more stupid.

Do you think we can arrange to waterboard #43 with $15 martinis and finally shut him the eff up?

The funny thing is that this might be the best time to open a business in LIC. This is because it is a renter’s market now and all the inflated rents will be brought back down to earth. At the same time the population is growing with every condo building they finish and occupy. Even if all the condos are not fully sold they will be rented or the banks will fire sale them but they will be filled.

I guess if a business owner has the economic strength to stay afloat a year or two and is able to negotiate a great rent for a long term than the chances for success will be high. However, this business still has to be relevant to the neighborhood or else it will not survive no matter what.

McReilly’s did not close because they couldn’t make it. They closed because the owner of the building did not want to rent to them and they were given a months notice to vacate.

Now is the time to buy commercial property from distressed real estate speculators facing bankruptcy after buying property that they thought they could continue to raise the rent on.

Actually, now’s not the perfect time- 9 months from now once unemployment hits double digits and no one’s buying… that would be an even better time.

But as long as you rent in NYC, you can expect to get screwed.

For all the commenters pissed about $15 drinks, I suggest you google the word “meme.”

major suckage. let’s boycott.

56, boycott? Good luck with that. If this rumor is true, you can be sure that place will do fantastically well. No underestimating the taste of American consumers.

Dunkin’ Donuts is for white trash, dim suburbanites, and fat, poor slobs. We don’t need that place in LIC, though it will keep the undesirables out of the better, locally-run coffee shops.

By “undesirables” who do you mean exactly? The “savages” from WTB? Those are the only true undesirables around here.

LIQCity: can you block #60′s comments?

take it back to curbed already.

There is no reason for a Gap or Banana Republic in the neighborhood. What is needed is stores that provide everyday goods. Really, how many times a week are you going to buy something at the Gap or Banana Republic? I’d love a butcher, bakery, fish market etc.

Why are people so upset with #60′s post? OK, I wouldn’t have been so rude. But really, do we want a crappy Dunkin Donuts in the neighborhood?

This place doesn’t need a Dunkin Donuts, it’s needs an enema. Anyone who gives a shit whether a chain donut store moves into this neighborhood should just kill themselves now and save yourself the upsetting drama that’s sure to unfold over the rest of your life.

It’s all the more ironic that there are already 8 Dunkin Donuts with addresses in “Long Island City,” yet none of you sturm und drang douchebag emo hipsters who cry at the sight of chain stores have seen fit to move out of this ‘hood yet. Just do everyone a favor and move to Greenpoint, where it’s so much more pure and real despite an even higher concentration of chain stores and fast food. Those of us who can ignore crappy places without giving ourselves aneurisms would just like to read this blog in peace without the outpouring of emotion over the slightest threat of a chain store moving in.

It’s not the end of the world. Hell, it’s not even a big deal. Businesses that don’t serve a need don’t last- that’s how things work, if you haven’t figured it out yet. Just separate your self-worth from your mental image of the “coolness” of your neighborhood and get on function, or as Bill Hicks says… kill yourself.

#70, the Dunkin Donuts snob is a condo yuppie, not a hipster. Probably wouldn’t be caught dead in Greenpoint. Know the difference.

don’t make me write it

LIC is not the only area seeing stores shut down.

http://ny.therealdeal.com/articles/nyc-sees-rash-of-retail-restaurant-closures

#73 is a real hoot! What exactly is a “conventional neighborhood”? Please explain, s”il vous plait. Next thing you know we’ll have OTB’s. pool halls, dive bars, pawn shops and god knows what else!— yessir – to quote The Music Man – “we got trouble right here in River City”!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Next Level Floral Design,Inc will still maintain daily service and daily deliveries in
Long Island City without a store front, they currently operate out of there two other locations at 125 Park Ave NYC and Railroad Ave in Warwick, NY.

I’d like a dive bar and a pool hall around here actually as I like to play pool and drink cheaply. Seriously, I’d like to see a hardware store again. We had one when I first moved here over 15 years ago.

What we don’t need are more specialty shops for people who have no interest in contributing to the neighborhood (or any community at all) and just want to sleep in a Manhattan-like condo at night. Put stuff that ALL residents of this community can use. I love how people complain about chain stores entering the neighborhood. I’m no fan of Walmart for the same reasons many other people are, but I’d rather pop into a chain store for a new toilet seat than purchase one for $400 at some boutique or travel to Manhattan for one at a privately owned shop. Even the Upper East Side has chain stores.

But then I don’t lose sleep over my peers thinking I’m too… common for having chain shops in my neighborhood. If that’s the worst of your problems, there are many gated communities who would be happy to have you.

Yeah, thank god this blog isn’t completely dead, just almost. So our thread on the Dutch Kills Bar is shut down. Wonder why. Could it be because the last anonymous contributor offered the locution “top-shelve strippers,” when he undoubtedly meant “top-shelf strippers?” An assessment with which I nevertheless must agree…It’s called RIVERHEAD, btw, and there’s no tragedy–it’s still open and going strong, and those who yearn for a $15 cocktail can probably find one there. Cheers.

By “shut down” I did not intend to convey that any sort of censorship may have occurred, and did not mean to convey indignation or an accusatory attitude.

Btw you can get your Dunkin’ Donuts coffee by the bag at Costco. Or, you used to be able to get the exact same product at the Paris Cafe. Maybe you still can.

I don’t think Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee is all that is “crack”ed up to be, though for the price it ain’t bad and it beats diner coffee. Everyone is always saying how amazing it is, and I guess if you repeat it enough times, everyone will start to believe it.

I’m upset about this post. It makes it seems like LIC is going down the tubes and that’s not true. This is just a momentary decline… I dunno, doesn’t seem right to publicize it.

Yes, #90, let’s sweep it all under the rug and pretend everything is great. The real problem on Vernon is that landlords are charging too much rent for the reality of the foot-traffic. Publicizing what’s happening might actually help the root of the problem. Landlords lower your rent!! Help the businesses survive!!

Next Level Floral Design, INC. has consolidated its LIC location, they currently operate out of their two other locations at 125 Park Ave ,NYC and 28 Railroad Ave in Warwick, NY. Next Level Floral Design,Inc will still maintain daily service and daily deliveries in Long Island City, as well as the 5 boroughs.

#90 is a broker/developer.

great to hear about Dunkin Donuts. The neighborhood needs more places where you can grab something to eat and drink quick. Too many sit down restaurants. Every area that is considered to be vibrant has some chain stores. That’s why they are popular.

Okay, why not?

I’ve only been here in LIC (near Vernon-Jackson) for a few months but I’d love to see:

1) Hardware store
2) Good, cheap Mexican food (like Acapulco in Greenpoint, not The Creek)
3) Furniture store or thrift shop with furniture.
4) Pizza place that sells slices
5) A small pool hall, like the previous poster mentioned.

Lastly, I really hope Dorian Cafe isn’t on its way out. I like that place.