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Odessa Restaurant, A Late Night East Village Oasis, To Close
BY JOHN DEL SIGNORE
JULY 12, 2020
Odessa Restaurant, a longtime Ukranian eatery and favorite last stop for late night East Village party people, is closing next Sunday, July 19th, a worker at the diner confirmed. The employee declined to offer any further details, only noting that it was a decision made by "the boss."
Opened in 1994 on Avenue A across from Tompkins Square Park, Odessa was a 24/7 spin-off of the Odessa Bar next door. The bar dated back to the early '80s, and finally closed in 2013 after a 33 year run.
I'm the first to always say something sad whenever a long time business closes. This is no exception. I believe that when neighborhoods lose businesses like these, they also lose part of their character. Let me also say this, however: We should also not kid ourselves when it comes to the food. A lot of these places were not the cleanest. Take diners, for instance. Yes, absolutely they are part of the character of NYC and parts of NJ. Are they clean establishments serving healthy food? No. If you add to that the ever increasing prices when you have a host of other options in this era, then yes, a lot of businesses will need to close. I said it before and I'll say it again: if you price yourself out of the market, you're going to have to either maintain stable prices, or even reduce them or face stiff competition and shut down. No alternatives, sorry.
I'm the first to always say something sad whenever a long time business closes. This is no exception. I believe that when neighborhoods lose businesses like these, they also lose part of their character. Let me also say this, however: We should also not kid ourselves when it comes to the food. A lot of these places were not the cleanest. Take diners, for instance. Yes, absolutely they are part of the character of NYC and parts of NJ. Are they clean establishments serving healthy food? No. If you add to that the ever increasing prices when you have a host of other options in this era, then yes, a lot of businesses will need to close. I said it before and I'll say it again: if you price yourself out of the market, you're going to have to either maintain stable prices, or even reduce them or face stiff competition and shut down. No alternatives, sorry.
Depends on the Diner. Blue Bay is exceptionally clean or at least is no dirty than some middle class home kitchen.
LES or that whole section of Manhattan losts its character long time before this Ukrainian eatery ever closed. I believe I ate their once, was that Veselka or something like that. I cant remember.
I've been there several times. The have a couple of Ukrainian style dinner combos that were a good bargain. But the neighborhood was going upmarket, and they weren't. And I'm sure the Covid disruption didn't help.
Every eatery that requires sit down to make money won't last will all have to close down. You can't make money counting tables anymore. The rents in NYC is way too much for any fancy eateries to survive. The only places that will survive are those that are mostly take outs and deliveries. Pizzarias should do fine as well as chinese takeouts.
If that's true, it will have the effect of driving rents down. They'll just not be enough commercial renters for the amount of available retail space. The LLs will have to cut rents to fill the empty storefronts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by vision33r
Every eatery that requires sit down to make money won't last will all have to close down. You can't make money counting tables anymore. The rents in NYC is way too much for any fancy eateries to survive. The only places that will survive are those that are mostly take outs and deliveries. Pizzarias should do fine as well as chinese takeouts.
Oh, this is sad. Maybe not the greatest food, or the greatest atmosphere, but still a good place to have around. I just walked by there today and looked inside at all the chairs up on tables and wondered if they were making any money at all on takeout.
The LLs won't cut rents until they have a gun to their heads, by the way: their buildings are valued based on the rent roll, their mortgages often require them to maintain a certain rent roll, and if they own other buildings in the neighborhood, that only amplifies the pressure to keep nominal rents high even if no one is paying them. (Plus, if you do have a portfolio, you can use exaggerated losses on vacant properties to offset actual income at others. No one's auditing those expenses.)
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