The local paper for the Upper East Side
WEEK OF JULY BRIGHT AND SHINING LIGHT < P.12
13-19 2017
MISSING ON MADISON BUSINESS A rash of empty storefronts unsettles the fashionable avenue, even as two dozen new boutiques debut BY DOUGLAS FEIDEN
The storefronts are dark. Brown paper often covers the windows. There is a feeling of hollowness. Even the signboards can be unsettling: “Store Closing Sale” and “Everything Must Go” and “Store for Rent,” they read. Still, an air of optimism is also maintained. “Showcase Your Brand,” one sign reads. “Luxury Retail Space Available for Lease,” says another. As for positive spin, “Prime Retail Flagship Opportunity” is hard to surpass. Yet every once in a while, a plaintive note is posted: “Thank You for 26 Years of Business!” And that is when it dawns on you. This is not only a story about “Availability” — a word preferred by brokers and landlords — it is also about “Vacancy,” a word seldom in evidence on the signs. “There’s a New Look on Madison,” proclaims the signpost at 943 Madison Avenue, an empty storefront in a prime location, just one door south of the Met Breuer, the former site of the Whitney Museum of Art. Unfortunately, that’s true. The photographer Pierre Crosby on Sunday, June 18, walking southbound down Madison, took pictures of what he believes to be 49 vacant retail spaces in the 35-block, 1.75-mile stretch between 57th Street and 92nd Street. In an effort to confirm those findings, an Our Town reporter on Sunday, July 9 drove northbound over the same route twice — first up the east side of the avenue, then up the west side — and counted 46 apparent vacancies.
Madison between 80th and 81st. Photo: Pierre Crosby / @pierrecrosby “I grew up going to the Rudolf Steiner School on 79th and Madison and have many memories of walking the avenue as a child — in awe of the window displays and luxury items,” said the 23-year-old Crosby. “Today, it is sad to see so many of the mom-and-pop shops gone, and just a few still hanging on. Only the big-name brands, like Hermes and Louis Vuitton, are sure to stay, and it feels as if something is missing from the avenue and its allure,” he added. Crosby’s stark portraits of emptiness, which he provided as a courtesy to Our Town, first ran in NewYorkSocialDiary.com, which chronicles old money, the nouveau riche and society doings in Manhattan and the Hamptons. In a piece about the “deaccessioning of retail space” that accompanied
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COMMUNITY SATISFACTION: HOW DOES THE UPPER EAST SIDE MEASURE UP? NEIGHBORHOODS Residents grade their slice of NYC in survey BY MICHAEL GAROFALO
What does Upper East Side do better than anywhere else in the city? Where could it use some improve-
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In a recent survey, Upper East Side residents gave high marks to the availability of cultural activities in the neighborhood. Photo: Chris Sampson, via flickr
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Restaurant Ratings Business Real Estate 15 Minutes
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ment? The Citizens Budget Commission has some data on what your neighbors think. The commission recently released the results of a neighborhood survey measuring residents’ satisfaction with quality of life and city services at the community district level. Published here are select results for Community District 8, including
CONTINUED ON PAGE 18 Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, July 14 – 8:08 pm. For more information visit www.chabaduppereastside.com
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