A reader who proudly resides on Mott Street between Houston and Prince (or thereabouts) for - count 'em - four years took to heart yesterday's rumbling [#1] about the state of that quasi-neighborhood, which often sounds to us a little bit too Nabokovian to handle. No-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down Mulberry Street. But we digress. Our brave Nolitan -- though he is admittedly no "silver-haired parishioner of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral" -- has seen the high volume of retail store turnover before and knows it's nothing about which to get into a tizzy:
Probably three shops have endured since September 2001. The failures are the result of unforgivingly high rents and extremely poor business models. The fact that the next one-purse shop is only too eager to move in should attest to the fact that the nabe is not yet "over." Then again, a neighborhood whose wealthy residents fret that their renovated apartment is prematurely uncool and can't offer local goods or services they actually need (we lost a laundromat to Ralph Lauren last week) may be the very definition of "over." Thank goodness the restaurants are still good.
Phew. That last piece of news should keep the locals from gnawing on their expensive handbags for sustenance.