Change in Carroll Gardens Squeezing Little Guy

I posted most of this on Curbed but here goes anyway---

True story: I had my son during a very bad winter. Several times Gerard (the owner/pharmicist) delivered necessities as I was snowbound. I had no cash on me and he waited patiently for a month before I could get out and about to pay him - doubt Eckerd would be so accomodating.

True Story 2: Christmas of 2001 - son wanted a Gamecube and there were none to be had. I was in Carroll Court and mentioned it to Gerard in passing. He said, "I have one. Do you want it?" He had had a stash behind the counter. He made my son's Christmas and he didn't mark it up.

True Story#3 The kid needed several different kinds of eye drops for a major infection. It was pouring rain so the easy thing was to get of the F and go right into Eckered. Eckerd didn't have the eye drops in stock - went to Carroll Court. Prescription filled right away and for less than it would have cost at Eckerd.

I will miss them plus, Gerard is HOT!

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 10:21 AM

It really does seem like this area is changing quickly. One thing that the smaller businesses offer is the personal relationship the workers/owners have with customers and to many "upper middle class" newcommers this is not important. What is important is getting the goods and getting in and out quickly. I have witnessed on several occasions a huffy, impatient, designer clad person storm out of a store because the line was taking too long. No doubt they will welcome the chain stores with their cold efficiency.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 10:30 AM

Cocco -
I am the above poster and let me tell you that the Key Food has VASTLY improved since I have lived here. I hardly ever go there anymore. I bought a red pepper there that came with a dead worm inside. So, the improvement isn't saying much but it used to be a lot worse.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 10:32 AM

Anon at 10:30 -
Eckerd is hardly "efficient" - I have walked out because the line has been too long and there has only been only one register open. Numerous times.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 10:39 AM

I would not cry to see the Key Food leave. It is by far the worst shopping option in the neighborhood, and that is why they have trouble. though KF is closer, i always go to the Met food on Henry because they are cleaner, have more selection and better quality. They are in trouble because they are a poor business.

I, personally, have had no problems with Eckerds. They were very accomodating when someone walked off with my wife's perscription (the last one they had in the store), hustling it down and getting it to us later that night. I never went into that carroll-court pharmacy because I didnt find an attractive option, sandwiched between the excellent Clinton Apothacry and the chain-convenience of Eckerds.

A for Leonardo's, no opinion: I never went there, as there were several great pizza joints closer to my apartment.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:12 AM

If the present Key Food becomes a CVS (as I have heard recently), it would be a welcome alternative to Eckerd which is just about the most awful drugstore in the area. The registers are rarely fully staffed despite 20 people waiting on line at any time of day, especially the evening rush hour when people come out of the subway station and stop in to shop. When there's a sale, the store puts out a limited number of the product on the shelf, and when it's gone, it's gone, even though there is still more in the stockroom. Corporate Eckerd allows only a limited number of items to be sold at the sale price and the shelves are not restocked with that item until the sale is over (this is according to an insider.) As for Key Food, yes, the store has improved in recent years, but it still remains the most expensive in the area and you have to watch the sales there too...make sure you get the sale price at the register, otherwise you get charged the regular price.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:16 AM

Leonardo's definitely didn't get squeezed out -- the family owns the building and just made a choice to close. Also, for mom and pop pharmacy service, I always go to the pharmacy on Clinton and President St., which will also deliver a called-in prescription (and answer questions). Was anyone else as surprised as I was to see in the articles that both Leonardo's and Carroll-Court weren't that old -- 1990 for the pharmacy and mid-80's for Leonardo's. I've been here about as long as Leonardo's and I feel like a "newcomer". It's not as if those mom and pop stores had been there forever. (Not that I won't miss Leonardo's tremendously).

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:21 AM

Previous posters are right, Leonardo's chose to close, they weren't pushed out as they own the building. I've known Gerard since he was a baby, so he was a fledgling pharmacist when he opened Carroll Court in 1990.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:40 AM

The "little guy" is just that, little. They operate with a small town mentality. They never needed to have marketing strategies or ad campaigns in order to service their customers. The only competion was from other little guys just blocks away who ran their business similarly. The "little guy" didn't have to worry in years past that a trendy restaurant or boutique would be able to offer landlords rent that was multiples of theirs. Or that a national chain with massive economies of scale behind it would move in around the corner. People fight Wal-Mart from moving into NYC because of the damage it does the mom and pop stores and the character of a neighborhood but dont seem to care that chain pharmacies have popped up ever few blocks.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:44 AM

OK, so the "little guy" is little, we know that. We don't need to start bashing them for being so or scorning them for a "small town mentality." It's a different time now, different service demands, etc. Many of the little guys don't fit the bill anymore, but they provided needed services in their time, long before all of you got here.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:49 AM

If you take another look at what I posted, you'd realize that I wasnt "scorning" the little guy for their "small town mentality". I was noting how they are ill equipped to compete with multi billion dollar companies.
Newer small biz owners are more agressive in promoting themselves but thats partly because if they don't they'll never meet their expenses (rent).
As for your remark "long before all of you got here" I was born and raised here and my family has lived in this area for about 100 years. My great grandfather owned and operated a small store in the neighborhood until it and his home was torn down to build the BQE.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 12:02 PM

OK, so I stand corrected. And I've lived in CG all my life as well. My grandfather marched in the St. Rosalie feasts at Sacred Heart/St. Stephen's. Who was your grandfather?

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 12:04 PM

The notion that the national chain stores "take money out of the city" and send it somewhere else is a stupid and useless argument. Yes - they are bad for the small shop owner, but the national chains often pay more in rent, hire more workers (good for city residents), charge less (good for city shoppers), and distribute the profits to shareholders (many of whom live in the city).

I like the local shops too and will usually go there before a national chain, but apparently not enough people agree with me otherwise these mom and pop shops would not be going out of business.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 12:18 PM

Want to talk about a chain that doesn't try - Go to RiteAid on Smith.
Hardly any window displays, crumbly lino floors, filthy sidewalks, and half of their illuminated RiteAid letters on sign are burned out.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 12:19 PM

Please tell me that it isn't World Pizza that is being replaced by Dunkin Donuts!!!

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 12:43 PM

I've often thought about making constructive critques to small biz owner/operators but dont want to come off like a know it all.
I agree, the Rosemary room is like a ghost town.
I'm always puzzled when restaurants that seem to be doing well or at least have good food and service go out of business. ie: blue star and many others whose names escape me write now.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 12:53 PM

Mariettas (sp - old lady underwear store couple of doors up from Carroll Court is going strong)and here's a tip -they are the best place to buy onesies/sleepers for babies.

And Joe's 'perette is still making the best rice balls. Maybe all is not lost.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 1:28 PM

Anon 12:43 - Dunkin Donuts is NOT going where World Pie (formerly Mulla (Molla?) Pizza) is. It will be across the street next door to Citibank. And I hope they put up an extra large pink and orange sign that faces Scotto's Funeral Home.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 1:32 PM

Marietta's has been there forever. My mother bought me my Carter's there, and, yep, my grandmother used to buy her old-lady underwear there also. Joe's 'perette (used to be Joe's Superette...I guess the new owner doesn't care about his sign) was a thriving grocery store where I'd shop for my mother, and the original Joe would put the change in the paper bag so it wouldn't get lost on my way home around the corner (remember paper bags??).

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 1:34 PM

The Cammereri Bros store closed several years ago. Story has it the owner went through a bitter divorce, became despondent, closed the business. Don't know how true that is, but it's the word that went around at the time.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 2:56 PM

For those of us who live down in the tail end of CG - where are we supposed to shop if Key Foods closes? Pathmark is a disaster and walking there is not exactly pleasant. The deli on Court btw 3rd and 4th is great, but doesn't have a huge selection and is VERY expensive, and the grocery store next to is (can't remember the name?) is it's own kind of disaster - you have to blow the dust of the items you pick up on the shelf. Though Key Foods has it's problems (that smell) it IS better than it used to be, it has a better selection, just don't buy your produce or meat there!

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 8:44 PM

In the absence of Key Food, you can shop at Met Food on Henry & Degraw or Met Food on Smith & Baltic. I know it's a hike for you, but it's a hike for me too. I live three blocks from Key Food and I won't shop there. I'd rather go out of my way (and I don't have a car) and be relatively sure that my groceries are fresh, clean, and I won't be overcharged. Key Food has always been a problem. I think it's the site...its predecessor was A&P, and it was bad, too. We thought Key Food would have been an improvement, but we were very wrong.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 8:57 PM

Key Foods is awful. Their selection is completly unreliable and thier store is filthy. I'd only been in that pharmacy once and thought they'd been robbed because half the merchandise was on the floor and the shelves were practically empty. Thank god for the Health Food store on Union, which is always packed. The thing about having a business last is providing a place people actually want to shop at, and neither the Key Foods or the pharmacy have ever been my first choice. Thank god for Fresh Direct and any Rite Aid or Duane Reade I find on my way home from work.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 9:40 PM

I live above that Eckerd. I assume Eckerd didn't build the building. In fact, the building is actually dedicated to "Bobby" who was an old neighborhood guy who, I THINK ran the used car lot that once stood on this corner. (La Salle's?) Wouldn't that mean that a local person built this building? Whoever built this place put a plaque out front saying "This building is dedicated to "Bobby" (air quotes actually included). Loving husband, father, friend who created a vision and inspired others to make it a reality" (I can recite it by heart) So, who is it that rented the space TO the Eckerd? (And TO the Dunkin Donuts and TO the Dominos Pizzas and Starbucks). I'm not sure what I'm trying to say, but this building seems to be a perfect example of the inaccuracy of thinking of it in terms of We (neighborhood folks, new or old) and THEM (corporate behemoths). Perhaps there is a grey area here.

Posted by: Anonymous at January 31, 2006 11:56 PM

To Anon 11:56 pm: LaScala Motors was the used car dealer that occupied the site of the current Eckerd on Smith & President where you live. After two generations (father & son), the son retired/closed the business and sold the land to a landowner/developer (whose name escapes me right now but he also owns a parking lot somewhere near the Gowanus). He put up the building...but not without work-stop orders due to lack of a proper permit (digging for a foundation over the F train tunnel) and a fight from the residents of CG who insisted on having at least part of the building provide housing. The battle went on for a couple of years with several community meetings in the interim with the developer and architect. The developer eventually obtained the proper permits, and then acquiesced to the community and constructed the apartments. I don't know if he is the one who rented the space to Eckerd, but I would guess that if he maintained ownership of the building, then he did rent to them. As for the plaque to Bobby, I'm not sure who Bobby was, even though I've lived on President for 50 years.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 1, 2006 9:20 AM

to anon 9:20 from the (temporary) eckerd tenant, thanks very much for filling me in on the history of this spot. I do recall that it was only due to neighborhood outcry that they didn't make this a much higher building. They mystery of the plaque remains!

Posted by: Anonymous at February 1, 2006 11:38 AM

Anon 11:38: You're welcome. I attended one of the community meetings that were held at P.S. 58, and I can tell you it got quite raucous. Residents were concerned about truck traffic deliveries on the President Street side (right opposite the Park's playground) or on Smith St which would seriously impact traffic on an already narrow, busy thoroughfare; overly-bright facade lighting and a larger-than-life neon sign (like some of the Duane Reade signs); and the overall visual design of the building, etc. The developer did want to build a higher structure, and that was a major sticking point in the low-rise configuration of Smith & President Streets. Thanks to the community activists and local politicians who stuck to their guns, Eckerd is the low-rise and relatively acceptable structure it is today.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 1, 2006 12:23 PM

It's Official. The Key Food is closing its doors on Sunday, February 19th. Signs went up this morning that everything is 50% off--everything must go. The last time I was there, all the checkout girls were discussing if they should submit applications to work at the new Dunkin Donuts/Baskin & Robbins across the street.

Posted by: Anonymous at February 15, 2006 1:04 PM