« House of the Day: 45 St. Pauls Place Tuesday Links »

August 6, 2007

Monday Blogwrap

6dumbo.jpg
70 Washington, Dumbo. Photo by steuben.
Two Trees Prankster: Know Your Future Black Monolith [Curbed]
Dock Street Dumbo Building Opposed by Yassky [Dumbo NYC]
Unlocked gate draws nightly crowd, vandalism [Kensington Blog]
Mirror's, The Clinton Hill Bar That Couldn't [Eater]
55 Berry's Friend Continues to Grow [Gowanus Lounge]
A Grassroots Community Library [Bed Stuy Blog]
Storecasting: Red Hook Ikea [Racked]
Community Dining at Grub [Clinton Hill Blog]




Posted by cwodicka at 3:34 PM | Comments (17)
Categories: Blogwrap

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.brownstoner.com/mte/mt-tb.cgi/1795

Comments

re: Ikea

I was recently talking to some person from Red Hook who is convinced the store will fail due to traffic. Her take is, since access to the site is so poor and traffic will be so bad, it may be faster for folks from South Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan to go Jersey. Any thoughts?

Posted by: Anonymous at August 6, 2007 4:45 PM

Kensington is full of massive whiners.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 6, 2007 4:48 PM

Maybe true of lower Manhattan, but I think that Brooklynites (north or south) would rather deal with the traffic mess getting in and out of Red Hook than deal with the traffic mess of crossing two rivers and all that NJ/Manhattan traffic.

Posted by: EJ at August 6, 2007 4:57 PM

Are you kidding?
Going to Red Hook is a snap.
Going to outer Secaucus is a pain in the ass and means several tolls.
There is no comparison.
The Red Hook IKEA will be a huge hit.
It will let Brooklynites pretend they are living in the mainland where you drive to stores and park in a real parking lot, and put your bags in the trunk, and drive home. Who doesn't like that?

Posted by: MP at August 6, 2007 5:05 PM

MP is right. Hurry up Ikea!!! It is high time we were able to have a fun day strolling through your showrooms and eating your fine cuisine in Brooklyn, just like normal people elsewhere in the world.

Posted by: Guvna at August 6, 2007 5:19 PM

i'd actually think the brooklyn ikea is going to take quite a bit of business away from the elizabeth one.

i'd imagine manhattanites would prefer to make a trip to brooklyn than one to new jersey. even if it is red hook.

i've made that trip to ikea in jersey once or twice and it didn't seem too much different from a trip to indonesia.

brooklyn just FEELS closer.

Posted by: slopehead at August 6, 2007 5:53 PM

I think people will travel to the Ikea and then follow it up with a venture over to Fairways a few blocks away.

Posted by: marjorie at August 6, 2007 6:25 PM

4:45,

I think that your friend is falling into the same category as many of the AY opponents. Specifically, since it cannot be stopped, all they can do is predict that it will fail.

In fact, it will do quite well.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 6, 2007 7:33 PM

I for one look forward to Ikea's opening... already enjoy food shopping at Fairways in Red Hook, and I'll love popping over to Ikea too.

Also love the plant nurseries in the area.

Posted by: bren at August 6, 2007 9:03 PM

I look forward to the Ikea opening so that my son's friends can get jobs there. Small mom & pop stores rarely hire young people of color unless they are illegal immigrants. I look forward to shopping there and not making the trek to Elizabeth.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 6, 2007 9:10 PM

There is no tax on stuff you buy and take home in the NJ IKEA. I think the store is located in a "tax free" zone or some such. If the Red Hook store will charge exorbitant NY tax, people will go to Jersey even if its a little further.

Posted by: McScrooge at August 6, 2007 9:24 PM

I hope they change the color scheme of the one in Red Hood, like they should make it red instead of blue, or lime-green and orange. They could put a big anchor made out of birch veneer and translucent plastic in front to help out with the spirit of things. I envy those that live nearby because they will be able to pop over for some swedish meatballs for $.99! I can't wait to get over and check things out myself.

Posted by: Charles at August 6, 2007 11:25 PM

McScrooge,

You bonehead! What you pay in taxes in NYC are cancelled by the tolls, time and gas used to get to Jersey. Even if you fill up on gas in Jersey, Red Hook would be the logical choice for Brooklynites.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 7, 2007 2:12 AM

I cant wait! I am sick of driving to Jersey or even LI for my IKEA wares.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 7, 2007 8:54 AM

swedification

Posted by: nick at August 7, 2007 10:10 AM

Let's test the respective arguments of McScrooge and Anonymous2:12 on a relatively modest Ikea purchase in NJ:

($250 X .05375 difference in sales tax) + (10 gallons gas @ $0.30 cheaper) = $16.44, ten dollars more than the $6 toll.

The above is based on my understanding that the sales tax in Elizabeth is 3%, or half of the state tax. If McScrooge is correct that there is no tax, there is another $7.50 in your pocket. And then there are the questions of how much your time is worth, and whether the staff is more knowledgable/helpful one place or the other.

Posted by: armchair ecomomist at August 7, 2007 10:53 AM

Good Job Armchair Economist. McScrooge is incorrect about no tax in Elizabeth. If we add a modest $10 per hour value to out time and it takes at minimum an hour to get to Elizabeth and an hour to get back to Brooklyn (2 hours=$20), your computations would make the Brooklyn store the better bargain. I personally think that the staff in Brooklyn will be as equally unknowledgable and as unhelpful as the staff in Elizabeth. You have to cross the Mason-Dixon line to notice a slight change in that department.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 7, 2007 11:46 AM

Post a comment

Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.

Latest Restaurant Additions