Anonymous reader
In April, the Daily News visited the little mom-and-pop. They wrote:
"Near the 7-Eleven that opened at 247 Third Ave. in Gramercy early last year, local stores have had a hard time. Omar Irfan, the 46-year-old co-owner of Gramercy Corner at 20th St. and Third Ave. estimates that 7-Eleven took away 25-30% of his business. 'We sell a lot of the same things — snacks, cigarettes, lotto,' Irfan said. 'It’s very hard. We try to put prices a little down. Still, people come here for me. They know me.'"
Mr. Irfan hasn't shut down completely. He has managed to move across 20th Street and down a couple doors, next to the Dunkin Donuts Baskin Robbins, into a much smaller space than his last one. The rent here is cheaper. And maybe being a hair's breadth away from 7-11's field of gravity will help him catch some customers. But will his $1 coffee outsell Dunkin?
Where can a shop owner move to today that isn't near a competing chain?
Previously:
7-11 Zombification
Chain Stores in the City
Death of a Deli
We Want Our Bodega
30 comments:
That little news store has been there for decades. I recall in the late 60s, early 70s used to drop in and look at the covers of magazines and newspapers whenever they came out. And the Sunday NY Times was humongous, used to come out on Saturday night and lines would stretch around the block down 20th Street patiently waiting for a thick copy. Never thought those days would disappear.
I find it inexplicable that a 7-11 selling the same items can be permitted to open right next door to an independent business that has been there for years. Is there not a Community Board that reviews these things?
It really speaks to the fatal blow hypergentrification has dealt that the 7-11 can take away 30% of Gramercy Corner's business.
7-11 defeating New York; the 2 awnings create a perfect metaphor.
One depressing thing about this is that there seems to be nowhere to run to.
The replacement of independent businesses with chains happened throughout the country except for New York and a few other central cities decades ago. Now New York is succumbing. Your best bet is the handful of other central cities that also maintained viable independent businesses (cities that just did post-industrial collapse don't count), but these are also under pressure, its just less intense.
7-Eleven, the bed bugs of convenience stores. Why people would shop at them over local bodegas is something I'll never understand. 7-Eleven, Dunkin' Donuts, Subway Sandwiches...ugh.
I had not realized what exactly had happened. A couple of weeks ago I noticed two guys putting the finishing touches on the awning of the smaller space just south of 20th Street. I thought, “What are they, nuts? There’s a long-established smokeshop/magazine store right on the corner.” Then I looked north. A store I had known for maybe 40 years – it once was called Jonil’s – was closed. I had been sort of on the fence about 7-Elevens, but this one’s kind of personal. They must be stopped.
BabyDave
Options strike again. Not saying I like it but this is the city we live in.
@Little Earthquake
You do like it. Your sarcastic "options strike again" comment is clearly an argument that 7-11 is just another option for consumers, and therefore beneficial because more options = greater freedom. Or given your history of exclusively posting conservative talking points, perhaps your position is that consumers "vote with their feet", and if a neighboring bodega goes out of business, it's because they're providing a worse basket of goods/services for consumers. Either way, I don't understand why you would pay a premium to live in a city whose unique aspects you don't care for.
20 Oz Dr. Pepper- Bodega price: $1.50. 7-11 price $2.00. Hey Rube!
As noted, they had a great magazine selection and also had a nice selection of cigars, in a separate humidor room, for my 4 times a year cigar craving.
This is very depressing. I have never thought this would effect my psyche but it really is very depressing and uninspiring living in any of americas large cities today.
As Ed above said there really is nowhere to run to. I got a brief breather from it all when I moved to Oakland years ago, but here it is once again, midwstern and suburban transplants that all look and act alike, over priced coffee shops, restaurants and pseudo art galleries popping up everywhere. UGGHHHHH!
@5th Gen
I don't like 7-11 and I'm most certainly not a conservative. I would much rather have classic bodegas. Two of them closed recently where I live and I think it's sad because I use them often. However I can't live my life frustrated by other people's choices. They want to shop at 7-11 that's up to them. Stores are morally neutral so what's good for me is not what's good for others. I know what I prefer - the "unique aspects" as you say - and I DO vote with my feet. I shop at the places I like and avoid the ones I don't. But if shopping at a bodega or a local butcher puts me in a minority, I'm not going to waste energy on righteous indignation toward other people's choices. Waste of energy. And regardless, my indignation would be nobody's moral crisis.
7/11 s are all over central america mexico usa, now nyc. i myself would go to the bodega, whether its cheaper or more expensive. i do this allover the world. why? the experience is better. better lighting, visual, peopel who know you, maybe magazines, things to look at. i hate florestant lights, ice cold air conditioning (dirty filters, electric generators going full force, strange employess, generally a depressing place to spend even 5 minutes). reading this info it looks like most people dont agree w/me. right? JAZ, this is america, there is no law againt competition, 7/11 can move near anyone they want. if they had no business they would leave. its the customers who are making the choice. what i hate is when there is NO choice. in the suburbs, thats the way it is. there are few independent businesses as there is no more mainstreet USA. there is highway shopping center USA. please DO not consider 7/11 to be gentrifcation. thats an insult. artisanal coffee yes, marc jacobs yes, but some lower end schlocky roadside side soda& cigeretter place? dont insult us. the only people who would think 7/11 was chi chi are people whohave never experienced air conditioning, or a clean tile floor. do you know, 7/11 & walmart is considered status in 3rd world countries. they brag about what they bought @ walmart, hang out in the parking lot. take the pickup truck to 7/11. (yes i know, we would prefer the groseria, the tiny electrical store, fruit stand, ). be careful as you speak. 7/11's equal downwardly mobile. someday there will be box store 7s & mega store 7/11s. this the direction. gentrified? plaeeeeeaze.....
When I was in Melbourne, Australia in 2010, there were 7-11s everywhere in the central business district. They were all about 80 percent the same, with some variation.
It was a sad day when the notice went up that this was going to disappear. A wonderful magazine shop w/ real character. And a proven source of local economic improvement--a Gramercy Park doorman won a million dollars on a scratch-off lottery ticket!
It's the little peculiarities of a place like this that a chain store will never replicate. Back in a corner behind the internet terminals & by the cigars there was a shelf with World Trade Center snow-globes that hadn't been replaced since 9-11. With the passage of time the water began to evaporate, as if the towers were gradually emerging from a flood.
this is about mall-azation: whats strange is even intelligent people have weird taste. maybe not so much in new york, but in developing countries, & maybe across the USA. my 36yr old teacher friend, wanted to meet @ "black coffee". i knew what this was w/out even going inside. dont know if place is all over americana but i must be. usually we go to a little place surrounded by trees, nice wood & leather chairs, an outside & inside. they also have plain bottled water, as well as normal coffee, some cakes, low or no music. i want to be flexible, so i agree on this mall place. ok we end up sitting on small hard metal chairs, on a patio facing a highway, a parking lot, & a walmart. gagging on the fumes. people in their 30s accept this, its car culture. i order 1/2 cup of coffee because its i know how strong it is. they dont listen & give 1/2 cup w/boiling hot water filled to the top. the road to hell is paved w/good intentions. it spills i burn, i pour out 1/2, & fill the other 1/2 w/the rest of the water in my small plastic bottle. (i wish i had brought in a larger one). the heat is still so high in the styrofoam cup that no amount of napkin can stop my discomfort. i throw it out. wasted $3usd. the patio was the better choice, as the inside has so much airconditioning, swiggle designs on the walls & floors that i got dizzy, & loud music. how cooool....modern people like to be tortured. i dont. i try to buy plain water, but its like another $3. usd, & its not normal water, its their own "brand" w/ a label that says "black coffee water" (w/sqiggles). yes they do have it room temp as well. but why push this, i pass on the water. @this point starbucks sure looks good in my mind. so, people sit on hard chairs, & the coffee may take 1 hour to cool off, no view. this is not the first smart person who likes it there. a young gay friend, goes there, hes smart, speaks a few languages. what is wrong w/the little place w/trees & wood & leather? its so tranquil low maintance. what is just as bad as a schlocky 7/11, IS bullshitfakehipmiddleclassmallartisanal. yes thats one word, i made it up. i really hope that little coffee place w/the trees stays in business. as the place next door changed hands like 7 times. i think the drive bys for the cakes, keep it going. (i hope there are many birthdays). so this mall thing is world wide, all the way to australia, & then some. now THIS is what they mean by gentrified!
I'm utterly heartbroken by this; Gramercy Corner has been around for over 40 years and is a real part of the neighborhood. Hopefully they can make it work at the new location.
Has anyone else noticed the uptick in useless "contrarian opinion" and borderline trolling in the comments recently? Must be the dog days of Summer...
Chain stores have access to capital that allows them to keep going through recessions, buy off politicians, last through price wars and escalating rents. Whoever runs your local bodega doesn't have this. We live in the most centrally run society in history, people accept intrusions in their lives that Stalin would have looked askance at and people keep on recycling outdated rhetoric about "choice".
But I think laura's second comment is on the mark. I've concluded that everyone -myself included- has become crazy to some extent due to overpopulation and too many chemicals in food and water. It comes out in different ways. For most people it comes out to actually embracing late industrial crap culture, a Stockholm syndrome reaction.
@ laura - re: your 'this is America, competition is allowed' angle, a 7-11 is not fair competition in any sense other than the absolute technical one. Situations where something is permitted in the legal sense, but is to the detriment of all but the owners of the new establishment, are the very reason things such as Community Boards exist.
Please tell me what service 7-11 provides the community that isn't already covered by established businesses? And the response of 'if it isn't needed, you don't have to use it and it will close' is faulty in that both of us know damn well that the 2012 NYC tourist, as well as recent transplant, is heavily predisposed towards patronizing chains; these corporations spend billions on branding for this very reason (if the corner bodega has milk for $3.95 and 7-11 2 doors down has it for $4.25, the tourist will STILL go to 7-11 for milk). Just look at how many bottles of soda, gatorade, etc. they sell when they are pretty much never the cheapest option on the block.)
I'm sure I could have made a better argument if I was less emotional about this topic, but 7-11 basically announced without a hint of shame that they plan to completely occupy Manhattan; they knew full well that they were waging war on the bodegas. Even if it is a losing battle, I'm never siding with this aggressive invader, and they are never getting 1 cent of mine.
Utherben- people are allowed to have differing opinions. It's called diversity, and it's something New York used to have alot of.
why don't they buy one of the chains? they sell the same crap. I guess I don't understand why one business is good and the other is bad. what a quaint bunch of whiny simpletons.
Caleo, yes diversity is what makes NYC differ from Middle America and the suburbs. Ironically however though, is that those differing opinions argue for the homogenization and suburbanization of NYC. And it's ok to have differing opinions as long as they're done in an intelligent conversation, respectfully and not irksome.
'Why don't they buy the chains?' Now that's a whiny simpleton.
As for differing opinions, New York used to have a lot of those 'aight, but then came the suburbanites that even their opinions are homogenized.
I understand the anger about yet another corporate chain taking over the city, but those here claiming that only tourists and students frequent 7-11 are misinformed, if not deluded.
I've worked as a shipping manager and in landscaping/horticulture and my coworkers were all native New York Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, and those guys shopped at 7-11 on a daily basis. There are millions of working class New Yorkers who will frequent these places if it's convenient, and not be the least bit bothered by it. They just don't get all contorted about this type of issue. They love old bodegas, but if 7-11 is nearby, they'll use it every time.
So don't blame this whole thing on tourists and recent transplants/students. It's more complicated than that.
I think the only way to fight 7-11 and other chains is a tax penalty on chains, plain and simple. This idea sounds politically beyond the pale now, but why? We have no problem landmarking historic buildings in order to preserve the character of the city. Isn't keeping chains from taking over the city part of that goal? And on top of that, isn't there an argument to be made that money spent in New York should benefit New Yorkers, not distant corporations?
Such a tax would also put a real dent in NYC's current image as ultra-big-business-friendly, which can only be a good thing.
JAZ, community boards are good for many things. but i dont know about any laws against chain store competition. there must be another angle to stop them. there is one city in mexico, that is a historical hertiage site. they do allow 7/11's but not in the center if town. when there is a 7/11, the sign must be very small, & no billboards. the building cannot be changed from the original architecture. matter of fact i didnt even know what the store was (when i was visiting), i thought it was a mexican bodega. as we see on this blog, besides tourists, working class people use 7/11 in new york. my angle for chain stores would be visual historical adjustment. that may not help the small bodega, but the vibe would be the same. as we know people function on a very low level. its the big signs, the bright lights that attract them. if things appear more low key, they might go into the bodega. after all they are on their cell phones yakking, or texting. just a thought. i dont know how corporations can be controlled, they are taking over the world. ED, i dont understand people embracing DIS-comfort. that is going backwards, not foward. to add to my commentary on "black coffee" (the mall place), there were teeny metal round tables that would actually not be suitable for more than 2 people. & the hot coffee would spill & burn. as my cup did, as the tables shake. theres something "off" here, as most people choose discomfort. so, do people shape society? or do corporations shape people? try putting your dog or cat in these envirements. it would bite you, or run away. not people! they would fight & line up for this. & i have to stop asking "why".
I realized yesterday that place closed, but I had no idea it was because of the 7-11. It's frustrating. Sad to see it go. I hope the owners are OK.
I hadn’t realized what was going on. A couple of weeks back I was walking up the avenue and saw two guys at the space just south of 20th Street putting finishing touches on the awning. I thought, “What are they, nuts? There’s a long-established store selling all that stuff right on the corner across the street.” The, I took a few more steps north and saw.
I have known that place for maybe 40 years – it once was called Jonil’s – and am disheartened that it was at all displaced by a national chain. I used to be somewhat on the fence about 7-Elevens, but this time it’s personal. Go away, striped storefronts.
Don't blame the chain, blame the people who patronize it.
I'm not a fan of 7-11, but I do go there for coffee at 3 am because it is semi-fresh. Other than that it is overpriced "convenience" and I avoid it.
That said, it is un-American to prevent a business from opening because it is a chain/anti-gay/communist/whatever. If people want to shop at 7-11 (I don't get it) they have the right to do so, and if that puts the local guy out of business, that sucks, but it is the consequence of a free society.
Is is un-American to try to shape one's community? Maybe and it is worth discussing this valid argument. Things like zoning regulations or massive re-zoning (High Line, NYU, Seward Park, Atlantic Yards etc.), Business "Improvement" Districts, restrictions on certain types of businesses(bars, adult shops etc.) are all manipulating the "right" of a business to open wherever the owner pleases. I think the communities affected can and should open a dialogue about the benefits and costs of certain businesses to explore whether it is in their own best interest. Ex. Walmart has been shown to increase the rolls of welfare and medicaid clients due to its low wages- it suppresses competition with economies of scale- many communities have said "No" to such a store opening in their area because they see the benefit is not so much to the community but to the corporation.
Caleo,
Of course the "native New York Puerto Ricans and Dominicans" will shop at 7-11 since their bodegas are being pushed out by the 7-11s. If you only have one choice to shop, you'll shop there/ Like you said, NYC is used to be about diversity. But with the influx of 7-11s, tourists, students, transients, it is no longer true. And by adding that you used to be the shipping manager, is just pontificating that you are better thatn the native Puerto Ricans and Dominicans. Deep insidem, I thin you just want them to vanish too, so that you can have white Midwesterners to be your coworkers.
anon, you are mega projecting. caleo is just saying that native new yorker workers (who are hispanic) go to 7/11. i guess if its closer to work they will choose it to save a few minutes of their time. youre looking under rocks for racism, get over your self.
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