21 New Businesses (Since Summer 2008, working north from Eastern):The Pulp and The Bean
JamRock Kitchen
Mazon Discount
Veggies
Brooklyn Inkspot (the one next to Dutch Boy)
Dutch Boy Burger
The Breukelen Coffee House
Franklin Park
Nairobi's Knapsack (now closed)
Salon (don't know the name) at Sterling and Franklin
Lily & Fig
LaunchPad
First Impressions Dental
Alternative Healing
MySpace Realty
BNI Express Laundromat
Community Pawn (now closed)
The Pana Store
A Slice of Brooklyn
Oaxaca Taco
The Laundromat in the Jewish Hospital (on St. Marks)
7 Coming Soon:Wood Oven Pizza
Sushi (where Nairobi's Knapsack was)
Chavella's (new store on Franklin)
724 Franklin (new bar/restaurant from Franklin Park owners)
Thai (in the former Happy Wok space)
Wine Shop (also from the FP owners)
Supermarket (in the Jewish Hospital on St. Marks)
17 Renovations and Expansions (done, planned, or in progress):Fisher's
Golden Chopsticks
Franklin Express Laundry
Franklin Park (the big bar)
Breukelen Coffee House (the back room)
Nam's (forever rearranging/renovating)
Bristen's
About Time (repainted the facade a few times)
J&B Deli (now closed, soon to be Chavella's)
3D's
J's Wong (used to be Happy Wok, moved, but the same guys)
Homage (now closed on account of that fire)
Franklin Express Deli
Bombay Masala (opened a garden)
Preschool (mural and some indoor work)
Franklyn Deli
Sushi Tatsu (new awning, Thai menu)
15 Closed:Scarlet Ribbons Thrift Shop
790 Franklin (I think it was an electronics place)
Diana's Desserts (now Inkspot, may have moved to Washington)
The Spice is Right (soon to be Wood Oven Pizza)
Nairobi's Knapsack (soon to be Sushi)
King Accessory (now a salon)
J&B Deli (soon to be Chavella's)
Off the Hook Communications
El Baron Grocery (soon to be 724 bar/restaurant)
Community Pawn
West Indian Cafe (now J's Wong)
Saje (actually closed just before I got here, now the Pana Store)
Homage (fire)
Muslim Bookshop (fire)
Insurance (now Oaxaca Taco)
I'm curious what observations readers have about the trends documented above, but to lead into discussion, a few observations:
- Gentrification is very clearly at work here, and yet, not everything conforms to the expected trends. Certainly the replacement of The Spice is Right with a Wood Oven Pizza place, or the disappearance of a bodega (El Baron) to make way for bar (724) is illustrative of the ways in which the local population is changing and how landlords and entrepreneurs are catering to certain tastes. That said, businesses like Saje and Nairobi's Knapsack couldn't make it, while plenty of new ones that aren't typically associated with gentrification (Mazon's new spot, the Pana Store, etc) are thriving. This isn't to suggest that gentrification is somehow less problematic or less of a trend, but just to highlight that it's one of many forces acting on the local commercial scene.
- Talking with a local merchant about businesses opening and closing this week, I got the sense that despite the rash of new openings, as he put it "a lot of people aren't doing too well." He suggested that two things are at work here - the first is that landlords are upping rents for commercial spaces since demand for them has grown, but secondly, new arrivals haven't provided the customer base some stores expected, largely because lots of them don't shop locally. One of the attractions of local businesses is that, in theory, they're more responsive to customer needs than big chains or well-established outlets, but this only works if people are willing a) to shop there and b) to provide feedback to improve these places. In order for businesses, new and old, to survive in what are still tough economic times, they need active customers.
- Commercial turnover is only part of the story: while I think the lists above are helpful, they'd be much more useful set side-by-side with information about residential turnover, particularly since the biggest problem with gentrification, and the thing that creates the most fear, anger, tension, and resentment, is residential displacement. It's worth noting that three big residential projects are complete or nearing completion on Franklin, two of which (the Ishi Condos and the expanded Jewish Hospital rentals) will likely be agents of increased demographic change and one of which (the city-sponsored St. Mark's Gardens) is intended as an anchor for affordable housing in the area.
- That said, commercial displacement acts as both an agent and symbol of change. Practically speaking, the cost of living increases when certain businesses arrive and certain ones leave, and community gathering places can be lost as well. Symbolic changes matter, too - people feel alienated and frustrated when their home stops looking like home. To capture all of these things, check out this
comment from a post earlier this week. There are a lot of people, new and old, who are excited about the ways in which the Avenue is growing and changing, but there are discontents, too, and they're part of the picture of neighborhood change. In closing, then I'd pose a question I posed last year in a
similar post -
what, if there are any, are the best strategies for making changes (and changes are inevitable) serve the widest portion of the neighborhood possible?