The developer Avalon Bay has had a tricky time developing the retail properties in its massive East Village developments. While the Bowery Whole Foods has been an unmitigated success and DBGB's keeps pulling expense accounts in, the company has not been as lucky with its food tenants. A restaurant space on First Street and Second Avenue still remains unfilled thanks to community opposition to bars potential operators want to include, the Veselka outpost planned for First Street remains unfinished, the Bruce Willis-backed Bowery Wine Co. appears to be about ready to kick the bucket and now Bespoke Chocolates the tiny chocolate shop that was meant to harken a new "slice of the Left Bank" on Extra Place, has announced it will permanently close its doors on Thursday.
"Running a small business in New York City is very challenging, and we are so incredibly grateful for all of your support over the past few years," Bespoke's owners wrote in an e-mail and Facebook post that declined to mention exactly why the shop is shuttering. They'll still accept orders of their delicious chocolates and Pretzel-Covered Sea Salted Caramels through next week, but after that things are up in the air. "Our plans for the very immediate future, however, involve reflection, a glass of wine, and a lot of eye-drying."
But what does this mean for Avalon's plans for Extra Place, that 30' by 120' alley tucked away north of First Street between the Bowery and Second Avenue? The last time we walked down it a few weeks ago there were what appeared to be a few shops kind of open on the strip, along with the first-Manhattan outpost of Oaxaca. But there was little sign of the lively scene Avalon initially forecasted for the half-block. All hope isn't quite lost though.
Much of the problem with getting people into the alley to shop and eat is that passersby still don't know it exists, and right now there is little on that stretch of First to pull them off the avenues to explore. The addition of Veselka and the rumored Bowery Wine Co replacement from the l'Artusi team should do much to help on that front. Now Avalon just needs to figure out what kind of stores people would actually want to go down a desolate alley to frequent. Personally, we think they'd do well by studying the food truck scene. Extra Place already has a quick taco joint, so why not add a frites front, a dumpling dive, and a more coffee-and-espresso friendly sweets shop (so as to get people actually sitting on the alley)? If they really wanted to go crazy they could even invite a few of the bigger name trucks to come park in the alley on weekends, when the area is lousy with shoppers and tourists throwing their money around. But that's just our $.02.
We called Avalon Bay to find out their plans for the block, but have yet to hear back.
