Chain Gang Thrives in Brooklyn
National retailers are increasingly sweet on Brooklyn, according to an article in today’s Post, and Brooklyn is apparently sold on chain stores. Since opening in December, the new IHOP on Livingston Street has ranked first in sales among the breakfast restaurant’s 1,300 locations, and the Downtown IHOP’s owner plans to open eateries in Bed-Stuy, East…
National retailers are increasingly sweet on Brooklyn, according to an article in today’s Post, and Brooklyn is apparently sold on chain stores. Since opening in December, the new IHOP on Livingston Street has ranked first in sales among the breakfast restaurant’s 1,300 locations, and the Downtown IHOP’s owner plans to open eateries in Bed-Stuy, East New York and Williamsburg. Other evidence of chain stores’ willingness to give Brooklyn a try includes the Target opening at Flatbush Junction and the one planned for the new building at Albee Square; Apple, JC Penney and Nordstrom are all said to be considering adding Brooklyn outposts. Marty Markowitz has been trying to woo Apple to a number of locations, including the new Albee Square building, the ground-floor space at One Hanson and the lower level of the Municipal Building on Joralemon Street. Although Downtown—with its existing foot traffic, reputation as a shopping district, and thousands of residential units in the pipeline—seems like a reasonable location for national chains, the influx of new stores is also detrimentally affecting independent retailers. “You can go anywhere to shop at a big chain store—people come to Downtown Brooklyn for Downtown Brooklyn and its uniqueness,” says Randy Leigh, a board member for Families United for Racial and Economic Equality, who notes that more than 100 small businesses have been pushed out of Downtown in the past year.
B’klyn is Making Chain-ge [NY Post]
Flatbush Junction Target Coming Soon [Brownstoner]
Downtown Brooklyn in Transition [Brownstoner]
Photo by milkshakepants.
“You’re were trying to be cute with that latte and gap shit you wrote and insulted a whole race.”
I’ve never equated chain restaurants as bad and Starbucks or Gap as good or better.
That’s your own sense of low esteem talking.
I go to plenty of chains and hate Starbucks and the Gap.
Probably even eaten at Ihop more than I’ve drank a nasty cup of Starbucks. And I’m as white as they come.
I was making an observation, not a judgement about an entire race.
You want to turn this into something it’s not.
Every person I saw in THIS Ihop when I walked by was African American.
Period. Never said that was good, bad or the other.
No you dummy. I never said that’s our only option. and it is being shoved down our throats by the corp exes who mastered the art of taking back the hard earned pennies from the poor
You’re were trying to be cute with that latte and gap shit you wrote and insulted a whole race.
Then it seems like you sang a diffrent tune in your second reply post
“And yes…they all have ONE thing in common.
They eat unhealthy food and are OBESE!”
But still want to target African Americans. Why?
Go back home or I hate knowing that your kind is among us in bklyn.
Can’t wait till the new Mario Batali place opens up in the Slope!
Ramble…I walked by the IHOP on Saturday morning and the place was packed with a line at the counter. Who cares which demographic visits the new IHOP; the area needs new development and the IHOP is better than what was there.
Comments about mom & pop being ripoffs do not apply to food in NYC, but certainly to home improvement stores.
And what about the restaurants on Montague? They mostly suck and therefore have no customers. And why are all the new good restaurants going places other than the Heights (Heche en Dumbo, etc)? No idea.
11:56 Unique and special places like Keyfoods, C-town, and Associated foods charging $4 for the same oscar meyer franks Walmart sells for 99 cents? Or the corner cash-only food mart that charges $6 for them? Is that what you mean by unique and variety? I have lived here for many many years and there are unique experiences and expensive things which are worth the price of living here (ie houses that elsehwere would be 1/10 of their Brooklyn price). However paying crazy prices for normal name brand food and household products does not make me feel special. Maybe it does for you. If so then go ahead and enjoy spending 4 times the price for the same name brands people everywhere else pay. As a more sane New Yorker, I say bring on Walmart and all the other chains.
“But we were talking about Brooklyn today and I see more overweight African Americans in Downtown Brooklyn than I do white people.”
Well! That settles it! You are officially an expert in the purchasing and eating habits of all Brooklynites. Now, let’s return to reality: The U.S. is overwhelmingly white. For large national chains to succeed, they rely primarily on the support of WHITE customers. Certainly more blacks are overweight percentage-wise. But there are more overweight WHITES overall. To suggest that chains stores serve primarily black customers is just plain ignorant. But I wouldn’t expect you to uderstand that.
Luckily for Park Slope, there are VERY few spaces that accommodate chain stores.
It is THE reason Park Slope has stayed more mom and pop shops than chains.
Most of the PS storefronts are 1000 sf.
Even the larger ones like the one now opening where the Hollywood Video is not big enough for many of the chain stores.
PS is lucky.
Open one across from Dunkin DOnuts in the empty drugstore. Ka-ching!
Then again, maybe not. There are two excellent diners within a block.
Running an IHOP in the vicinity of 5th Avenue and 9th Street would be like having a license to print money.