Will Trendy Stores Give Montague a Shot in the Arm?
A few new stores could go a long way to boosting Montague Street’s cool factor, according to an article in the Real Deal. Brokers and neighborhood boosters say the shops—which include beauty supply/sex toy emporium Ricky’s, a Housing Works branch, and Greek makeup brand Korres’ soon-to-open storefront—are welcome additions to Montague’s retail scene. They argue…
A few new stores could go a long way to boosting Montague Street’s cool factor, according to an article in the Real Deal. Brokers and neighborhood boosters say the shops—which include beauty supply/sex toy emporium Ricky’s, a Housing Works branch, and Greek makeup brand Korres’ soon-to-open storefront—are welcome additions to Montague’s retail scene. They argue that the Heights’ main shopping drag needs to get hip in light of stepped-up competition from Smith and Court streets. Despite the new leases, thousands of square feet of retail space remain vacant on Montague, which has the highest rents in Downtown Brooklyn after the Fulton Street Mall. When we think cool, Montague Street doesn’t exactly spring to mind, and it’s difficult to see how the addition of a few new chain stores is going to change that. Anyone feel differently?
Brooklyn Heights Retail Gets a Twist [The Real Deal]
Yes, they were the good old days…and they ain’t never coming back as long as you have some of the greediest landlords in the city all looking for the next big chain. As a life-long Heights resident as well as the owner of a mixed commercial/residential building in Greenwich Village, I was flabbergasted to hear the asking prices for Montague Street store rentals, which were running 20-30% higher thn the city. Trust me, these landlords could care less about me, you or the neighborhood…the bottom line rules in this case. BTW, anybody remember Mike’s Sandwich Shop where TASTE OF THE EAST used to be downstairs? Best damned meatball hero in Brooklyn!
I remember my mom pointing out the mice running around the floors of Hebrew National… the toy store by Hicks always had the new batch of Star War figures, and Adventure People…
yes, there was a head shop and a gay bar upstairs in one of the old beat-up tenements.
there was also a really gross butcher with walls that had not been painted since the 1930’s, the old supermarket facade looked like a set for Fort Apache, the Bronx, the rudest shoe repair shop in the country, oh I think he’s still there, a five and dime right out of Fulton mall and various awful restaurants with pre-made salads that sat if-n the fridge and were served on a cold plate. …. ah the good old days in Brooklyn Heights.
A few years ago we considered living in BH, because of location and great housing. We spent a few weekends going to open houses and walking around, and Montague St. was actually a big turn off. At first glance it looked great.
I don’t understand why landlords would rather sit on vacant storefronts than lower the rent. I guess there are tax benefits…
As a BH resident, Montague Street is purely functional for me – I go to the bank machine, I buy detergent at Key Food, I go home. Housing Works is the only place where I browse, and maybe the used book place, though the aisles there are so cramped it’s not a comfortable place to linger. At least Ricky’s is an interesting step up from a more standard-issue chain.
sigh…capulets! summa! and remember leaf & bean – and how yummy it smelled!? with the shop in front and the cafe in back? and womrath’s – the lending bookstore where bentley’s is now? and when community books was upstairs over the japanese place? or when perelandra was just a sprout? or nettie’s dept. store (later BK/Banana). it had character and feeling. BK was indeed the beginning of this era of yuck.
There was also a head shop on montague in the 70’s , anyone remember that?
10:30 (aka 9:43) I agree that the loss of Summa was huge. I still go to their UWS location to have framing done…they’re that good! But I really miss having them on Montague. I don’t really care about a “cool factor”, but I want an interesting retail stretch. Why should Park Slope and Cobble Hill have all the fun?
I pine for the loss of “Capulets on Montague”, knowing full well that the Heights’ unique population of lunchtime government workers, Jeh. Witnesses, cranks, hausfraus, and now residential Pace students, could never support such an establishment. At least we can all now buy butt plugs at Ricky’s!!!