We got a text on Thursday morning telling us that the Main Street Head Shop on Roosevelt Island had closed. “For real?” we asked. “Come up and take a look…” We did. It wasn’t just closed – it was emptied out. Here’s what we found.
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
It looked like a hasty retreat. After I finished taking these photos, a friend came along. He said he’d happened by the place the night before at around 8:00. It was already emptied out, and a group of disgruntled-looking strangers were hanging around the bench in front of the now-defunct store.
My friend was happy. Aware as many were of illegal activities there, including selling pot to underage children reported by residents, he’d walked into the shop once to complain. The results were not good.
Adding to many residents’ frustrations, one stood out. That is, the shop and its activities were just a hop, step and jump across Main Street from Public Safety’s headquarters.
So, what else is new? PSD can’t handle bike riders racing through crosswalks and stop signs. How were they going to do anything with an illegal pot dispensary?
Demise of the Main Street Head Shop
After the former Bubble Cool shop and, before that, Main Street Sweets sat idle for a couple of years, a new group signed a lease for the space.
According to rental agent, Hudson-Related, the group said they were setting up a “Hallmark-style stationery store.” But the joke was on them because the owners of Main Street’s newest tenant couldn’t even spell it right.
The sign soon came down because “stationary store” has a whole other meaning.
But, honestly, anyone would have to be intoxicated with optimism or desperate to think a Hallmark shop was coming to lightly trafficked Roosevelt Island. All across town, they were closing like Bugs Bunny’s entrances with Porky shooting at him.
Reality intrudes. It always does.
As it became clear that the group’s business model rested on becoming a pot dispensary as soon as they could get a license – and began, according to numerous reports, selling weed right away anyway – Hudson-Related got into a battle with them.
It’s hard evicting anyone in New York City and expensive, but Hudson-Related finally prevailed.
A final eviction hearing was scheduled for August 11th, but they secured a vacate agreement with the no-name dispensary instead.
This brings another hole on Main Street, but it’s one that, for a change, is welcomed.
The Five Amendments That Sold Out Roosevelt Island
Roosevelt Island did not lose control of its southern waterfront in a single deal. It happened in five quiet steps. Five amendments. Five missed chances to renegotiate.
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