Storefronting, our regular report from the front lines of the city's changing storescape. Your tips, as always, help our garden grow.
1) East Village: Even though bars and restaurants in the East Village have been ordered dry left and right, the hood is still safe for booze stores, of course. And the neighborhood might be gaining a new, not much needed wine shop. A tipster writes, "I was at In Vino last night (same block as EU, kates joint and mamlouk) and one of the bartenders, in addition to telling a long, loud story about getting stoned and going to the Imax (not telling it to me, mind you), told a pretty single girl sitting at the bar that they (the frank/max/supper/little frankie's/in vino mafia) are planning to put an Italian wine shop into the vacant space next door, which used to be some kind of 'dark arts' showroom." [Storefronting Inbox]
2) West Village: One more sign that the West Village of yore is going, going, gone: record shop Vinylmania wax emporium has closed. The store opened in 1978. More color, courtesy of the TONY blog: "[it] was at one time so successful that it had four separate shops on Carmine Street—one entirely devoted to morning music, no less—and the last shop at 60 Carmine Street remained a haven for house-music spinners." [TONY Blog, Gothamist]
3) Upper West Side: More Whole Foods? More Whole Foods, because a longtime rumor is finally official: an eagle-eyed tipster alerts us to a press release that we somehow managed to overlook last month, stating that Whole Foods has signed a lease for 808 Columbus, the 29-story residential tower located between 97th and 100th Streets. The store will cover 57,000 square feet on two levels. Notes our tipster, "As a condominium owner/resident on W 94th Street, I am totally psyched. Now about that rumor of Trader Joe's coming to West 93rd Street..." [Winick Realty]