The emptying out of western Bleecker Street continues with the coming closure of Your Neighborhood Office store.
Last week, owner Helen Ann Lally sent an email to her customers to say:
"I am sorry to say that after 24 years, Your Neighborhood Office will be closing, effective Saturday, March 31, 2018. I have not come to this decision lightly, but I do know that it’s time for me to move on to the next phase of my life."
Unconfirmed, a couple of readers say it was the rent that did it. As we know, this end of Bleecker has been through hell in the past 5 - 10 years. First, almost all the independent small businesses were pushed out by high rents and un-renewed leases. They were all replaced by luxury shops, many of them global chains.
More recently, many of those luxury corporations decided to shutter their Bleecker locations. Storefronts have since sat empty, creating high-rent blight.
After the closure of Manatus and a few other small places on this block, Your Neighborhood Office was one of two shops that weren't luxury and/or a chain. Now there's just the Village Apothecary pharmacy, currently undergoing a renovation. And Manatus is still sitting empty--after four years.
Your Neighborhood Office is beloved by many--voted "Best Doorman Substitute" by New York and winner of a GVSHP Village Award. It will surely be missed.
I'm so sorry to see Your Neighborhood Office go away. You are located near where my daughter used to live and I know she went there. What happened to the Notary, Lillian Cauchi? I'm so glad you have site up so there is a place for recalling the neighborhood then. Be well! Melinda
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