After opening on Church Street in 1933, Pearl Paint moved to Canal Street in 1960. Pearl started out just selling paint, but eventually added lots of other art supplies. Then the building, iconic for its red and white color scheme matching the Pearl Paint logo, was put up for sale and the store closed on April 17, 2014. [Image: Google Maps]

Pearl Paint wasn’t the only art supply shop to bite the dust in 2014. Sam Flax had been in business for 95 years, but when the rent was expected to double, it could go on no longer. The Sam Flax website says a rebirth is in the works. One can only hope. [Image: YellowBot]

It was a dive bar. Nobody denied that. It opened in 1937 and stayed open until the building refused to renew its lease in 2014. Despite pleas and a petition from the public, the bar was evicted. (In its place, naturally, a condo tower will rise.) It reopened in March of 2015 at 1140 Second Avenue, complete with its iconic neon sign. [Image: Google Maps]

People used to hate the big bookstores for pushing out the little ones. Now Borders went bankrupt, and even the number of Barnes & Nobles is dwindling. That included the first college store, which opened on Fifth Avenue in 1932 and used to be the company’s flagship store. It closed in January 2014. The much larger Barnes & Noble on 17th Street and Union Square remains, though it also hosts events and stocks goods besides books. [Image: Google Maps]

We couldn’t put it more succinctly than Jimmy McMillan. The rent was too damn high. The local bookstore chain was founded in 1981 and lost its Upper West Side location in 1996. Next to fall was its its Greenwich Village location in September 2014, replaced by a Foot Locker. The Gramercy and Brooklyn locations are also gone. All that remains is the Upper East Side location. [Photo: Google Maps]

After 36 years of serving those with wanderlust, the Complete Traveller Antiquarian Bookstore closed on December 31, 2014. Manager Mike Durell said their lease was up and the landlord wanted to raise the already “exorbitant” rent. [Image: JVNY]

Oh, yeah, Simone didn’t make it either. On November 30, after 15 years of serving the East Village, it closed its doors for good. [Image: Google Maps]

The drag queen cabaret originally opened in the East Village in 1993. It moved to Midtown in 2012, but that location would not last long. Employees said the rent went up and business went down. It closed at the end of June 2014. A pop-up version is now operating Fridays and Saturdays at 93 Ludlow Street. [Image: Google Maps]

Opened in 1959, it was a Midtown staple and, yes, it served oysters. It was run by the same family for the entirety of its existence. The neon lights reading “Sea Food” and “Oyster Bar” were clear signposts for the neighborhood, and the interior boasted sea shells on the ceiling and a maritime mural on the wall. Then the rent went up. A lot. In the space of four years, it reportedly jumped from $12,000 to $30,000. It closed on January 26, 2014. [Image: Google Maps]

It was supposedly the oldest pharmacy in America. When it opened it was called the Stock Pharmacy and was at 59 MacDougal Street. Francis Avignone purchased it in 1898, renamed it, and, in 1929, moved it over to Sixth Avenue, where it was until this year. Abe Lerner, who owned the pharmacy for the past 30 years, said the building’s new owner wanted to triple the rent. They’re due to clear out by April 30. [Image: Google Maps]

After 28 years, the iconic fruit juice and hot dog shop (because, for New Yorkers, the two go together) was forced out by a rent hike. Reportedly, the landlord wanted to raise the monthly payment from $30,000 to $50,000. It closed on January 7, 2014, leaving only the Upper West Side outpost. [Image: Google Maps]

The bakery business itself is over a century old, but the Pasticceria Bruno Bakery & Restaurant in Greenwich Village opened in 1973. They said that, since Sept. 11, it had been a financial struggle to stay there and that it just couldn’t work anymore. It closed on November 30. Locations on Staten Island remain open, though. [Image: Google Maps]

The men’s clothing and leather goods shop opened in a very un-gentrified Chelsea in 1976. Nearly 20 years ago, the store’s co-founder died of AIDS, but it kept going. Then the rent more than tripled from $7,000 a month to $24,000 a month, and the store couldn’t afford it. It was ordered out by January 30, 2014. [Image: Google Maps]

That Sherry reported that after 21 years in the East Village, the shop full of oddities and vintage clothing could not keep up with the rent or competition. The owners also blamed the student population, which they said didn't have a lot of money or taste. It closed in June 2014. [Image: Google Maps]

A piece of honky tonk in New York City. “Here, beneath the sparkling skyscrapers of Midtown Manhattan, lay a country oasis that served sizzling Tex-Mex food, high-caliber margaritas and live music with plenty of twang,” wrote the New York Times. There was live music there for 27 years, but rent and insurance payments had quintupled since 1996. It closed on July 27, 2014. [Image: Google Maps]