Attack of the Chain Stores in Williamsburg
On Friday The Times looked at the tension arising in Williamsburg as chain stores move in. With CVS moving into The Edge, a Duane Reade already on the waterfront, and a Starbucks possibly moving onto Bedford, some residents aren’t too happy. “Williamsburg is the Berkeley of New York, says one resident. (Really?) If anyplace is…
On Friday The Times looked at the tension arising in Williamsburg as chain stores move in. With CVS moving into The Edge, a Duane Reade already on the waterfront, and a Starbucks possibly moving onto Bedford, some residents aren’t too happy. “Williamsburg is the Berkeley of New York, says one resident. (Really?) If anyplace is going to reject a chain store, it’s Williamsburg.” A Facebook group has also popped up called I’m Boycotting Duane Reade to Save Williamsburg. But another resident, a transplant from the Upper West Side, would love to see a Dunkin Donuts or Food Emporium make the move into the neighborhood. For some reason, she said of the naysayers, they don’t want corporate stores. They don’t want convenience. Demand for retail spaces are undoubtedly going up, with rising rents putting pressure on the mom and pops in the neighborhood. “It’s becoming the East Village,” says a resident, lamenting the loss of one bohemian neighborhood to the other.
Williamsburg Unhappily Graduates to Chain Store Territory [NY Times]
if you want to be cool, got to be east of the BQE, or in bushwick central willie-b i condo/frat party/suburb of lower east of manhattan coming for years! duh
“Williamsburg is the Berkeley of New York,†Tracy Kinney screamed as she left Kings to return to her newly built glass condo to review her trust fund, a tall Starbucks latte (with espresso shot) in hand, pushing her daughter Rowan in a Maclaren jogging stroller and juggling her son Caspian wearing a sporty Abercrombie Kids outfit.”
The new Duane Reade is amazing. I think that it will only get better as traffic increases. Right now their fresh food is limited, but I can see that changing once people know that it is there. The closed supermarkets are the C Town in Greenpoint and the Foodtown on Mcguiness.
24 hours, bags of ice, ATM and virtually everything else you need 24 hours. And all hidden from sight for the except for the small ground floor footprint.
“FtGreeneCorey, that’s not a special Duane Reade, that’s their new look and model– they’re renovating all their existing locations in that model.”
Their manhattan flagship, in that old beautiful bank building on Spring and Lafayette doesn’t have a walk in beer fridge or growler bar.
“save Williamsburg”???
It was lost long ago, shortly after the East Village and LES was runnith over.
all relative to age and how long one has lived in NYC i guess….
haha IMBY
FtGreeneCorey, that’s not a special Duane Reade, that’s their new look and model– they’re renovating all their existing locations in that model. Might take a while. I agree, its awesome. They’ve also raised their prices, apparently, so maybe not direct competition for run of the mill drugstores with lower prices that close at night.
The new Duane Reade is awesome.
You can buy growlers of draft beer 24 HOURS.
berkeley and williamsburg are not the same. as far as “it’s becoming the east village” williamsburg IS just an extension of the East Village and has been for 5 years now. same hipsters, yuppies, and lameness.
Certainly there are enough STD’s in WB to support multiple drugstores.