In the past, we looked at Main Street retail every year, comparing, looking to the future, but the pandemic changed everything. An analysis under extreme circumstances seemed unrealistic. But that’s in the past. It’s time for a fresh – rather, refreshed – look.
by David Stone
The Roosevelt Island Daily News
Main Street Retail in the Rearview Mirror
Although not always the problem, Main Street retail has been a problem for as long as most of us can remember. It always needed to be better, and until 2010, when RIOC handed off to Hudson-Related, no one had a clue.
Not only did it need improvement in terms of services and supplies, but the street itself needed the esthetics. Brutalist architecture cried out for color, vibrancy, shoppers walking by and commitment.
RIOC promised but delivered none of these things, but Hudson-Related said they would “shock and awe.” Setting aside the unfortunate wartime reference, they had the spark and the faith.
Although Hudson President David Kramer, the face of the enterprise, remains enthusiastic, reality may have scrubbed some of that shine off. And Didier Ruiz, who serves as task manager for Shops On Main, is equally determined.
12 Years Later
Ruiz says, “Ideally, we prefer to be at 100% occupancy, but having one or two vacant spaces is not unusual.”
But that sounds awfully familiar – and inaccurate.
The former Urgent Care site is vacant, and so is the unfortunate head shop. And conditions would be much worse if RIOC hadn’t anonymously taken up the large space vacated by the NYPL with other areas turned over to non-profits serving limited populations.
Of the shuttered butcher shop/Mexican restaurant/”Korea” restaurant, Ruiz reports, “The Mexican Restaurant is closed while they search for a new chef and revamp the existing menu. That would be incarnation #4 in just a couple of years.
Topping that off is the issue of appearances.
Island Om, Nisi, Bread & Butter Market and others took pains to provide attractive signage making their businesses look, not just viable, but promising. That can’t be said of others.
Worst offender, RIOC, which ultimately owns the space, has not troubled itself with any sign hailing its presence. And the fogged windows are as ugly as they are refusing.
A pair of newcomers, Island Discount and ME get positive reviews from Roosevelt Islanders, but only one respects the integrity of Main Street and its neighbors.
“We are continuing to push for all retail tenants to have signage,” Ruiz assures The Daily. “Several of them are in the process, and we should see them in the next couple of weeks.”
We’ll be watching.
Finally…
Despite their jumping in head first, blaming Hudson-Related for the problems inherent with Main Street retail isn’t entirely fair. If good intentions counted most, they’d be blameless.
Yet, as anyone looking clearly at the situation from the beginning knows, there simply is not enough foot traffic or population in general to support the variety of thriving retail everyone would like. There never was, and there never will be.
RIOC’s lying to everyone about the Island’s populated, using it to lure trusting businesses, goes back decades. Their efforts would have been better spent on fighting for subsidies with the potential for creating a thriving Main Street retail.
Many of the businesses RIOC turned over to Hudson-Related, as a result, were tens of thousands of dollars in debt. Hudson-Related was forced to evict them.
If Hudson-Related did its due diligence, it would have thought twice about its commitment, but what was the alternative?
The reality is that, without either grants or allowances that make Main Street businesses viable, nothing will change. And, simply put, no one is talking about that.
Expect more of the same.
AVAC: Where the Pipe Curves
This is the final installment in my notes from the December 2nd, Operations Advisory Committee meeting, following “An Emergency, Apparently” and “Rust Is Funny Until It Isn’t”.
