Montague Street Waiting Game

By on April 6, 2008 8:47 pm in Brooklyn Heights

korresmont.JPG

dashingdiva.JPGBrooklyn Heights beauty buffs are surely in a tizzy as they wait for two national names in lookin’ good to open on Montague Street. Korres and Dashing Diva have been in the works for months. Korres’ sign promises they’ll open “in April”. Well?

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  • http://amysahba.blogspot.com/ amy

    i am just glad that it’s not a bank or a real estate agent…

  • Chris

    I’m not. As a man in his mid-twenties it’s just more crap I could never use.

  • Jay

    Well, at least all the bank tellers and real estate agents will be able to look really, really fine.

  • James

    Chris above has a point. It is just another store that a man – of any age – cannot use. New stores on Montague, that are not banks or real estate, seem to be directed solely to women – nail stores, Kores, Diva, Rickey’s, Nine West, Ann Taylor and many more. What about stores that all of us can shop in?

    Maybe soon we will get a new non-franchise real restaurant or even – dare I hope – a BAKERY!

  • cjp

    James and Chris not disputing your point but I’m a guy. And I can’t think of ANYTHING I need to buy that I can’t get via mail order, the internet or on Montague Street. There’s a hardware store, a Banana Republic, a newstand store and a bunch of restaurants. (Whether I choose to pay Banana Republic prices for pants or shoes is another matter…)

    Not sure what you need that you can’t get on Montague. As for the bakery, we have one at Cranberry’s. Okay so they’re not big on fresh bread but they certainly have a lot of delicious alternatives.

    Elaborate! I’m curious. What SHOULD we guys be buying on Montague that we can’t get now?

  • clarknt67

    Yes, I was hoping for a bank branch, there’s not enough of them. In the last year, in my few block radius I’ve only lost my; pizza slice place, barber & a dollar store to them.

    What do I need with pizza, haircuts & almost expired vitamins?

  • Chris

    Comment from cjp
    Time: April 7, 2008, 9:38 am

    “Not sure what you need that you can’t get on Montague.

    Elaborate! I’m curious. What SHOULD we guys be buying on Montague that we can’t get now?”

    I was thinking more along the lines of a Bar and Grill. Ever since Blue Moon closed down we’ve had nothing. Most of the restaurants on Montague are terrible as well. A non-asian restaurant might be a good addition. Maybe a Brooklyn Industries.

  • JGM

    All of the cosmetics places (big Sephora store and Ricky’s is really a cosmetics store in disguise) highlight once again that Montague is an outdoor mall for women who work at the court house and surrounding small offices for lunch and afterwork shopping. There probably are more Asian restaurants than one would expect for a small area outside of Chinatown…even the better restaurants (Latern) are Asian…sort of strange. IMO Montague basically could use anything that is geared more towards the people who live there ( a wine bar or a sports bar or any non-chain good restaurants…tired of going to Bocco Lupo and Downtown Sports Bar).

  • bornhere

    I’m still hoping for a bakery (now I even miss Sinclair’s not-always-hot-from-the-oven-fresh products) and a fish market devoted only to fish.

  • nabeguy

    Bring back Silver’s!!

  • MR

    umm, garden of eden on montague has amazing fresh baked breads every day, and most are very reasonably priced.

  • MR

    agree, a wine bar (or a microbrewery) would be a great addition to montague street.

  • sue

    Silver’s was the best! Matchbox cars and oaktag for school projects. Spaldeens and reinforcements. I can picture the counter now. Even when it moved to Pineapple Walk it still rocked.

  • bklynchick

    I second that vote for a bakery! Somebody needs to open a Buttercup franchise…perhaps in that spot between Blue Rose and the UPS store?

  • bornhere

    I agree that Garden of Eden has reasonably good breads; but their pastries, which I have bought a few times for parties and such, have never seemed fresh. Very reminiscent of Lassen and Hennigs of today. It would seem that a bakery should do well — happy, festive snackies for Court Street baby showers, birthdays, etc, and a better resource for residents. Maybe a bakery/fish store. Okay, maybe all-inclusive wouldn’t work.
    And a lot of us can lament the demise of the old stores (we do seem to do a lot of lamenting); but Silver’s was the best. I got toys there when I was a kid, and my kid got toys there when he was a little one. Where can a local parent/kid buy that stuff in the Heights today? Even the Woolworth’s/Lamston’s bailed.

  • James

    Wouldn’t it be nice to have a REAL bakery that actually bakes fresh breads, pies, cookies etc rather than a Lassen and Hennigs or Garden of Eden that merely sells baked goods. It isn’t quite the same thing. Is is the same as the difference between a butcher and a supermarket that sells meat.

  • cjp

    What was the name of that bakery on Henry between Montague and Pierrepont where Ann Taylor is now? It vanished shortly after I arrived in the Heights. Just wish I’d patronized the place more often because it really was quite good.

  • bhbabe

    CJP – it was Regina’s, wasn’t it?

  • Chris

    Well it didn’t take long for the elders to hijack this thread and turn it into a “I’m not happy because I don’t have a proper bakery to buy cookies for my kids” thread. There really is no hope for the heights.

    Here’s a tip people. Put down the sweets.

  • bornhere

    And Chris, dear, us elders called it Annie’s– not Blue Moon. Ah, youth!

  • Eric

    Bornhere, there is a toy store on Pineapple walk. Ive never been in so I dont know the quality… but at a glance it looked like expensive-ish infant type stuff. Someone whose been in there can correct me…

  • HDEB

    Heights kids on Pineapple walk is a well stocked, organized store with helpful employees and reasonable prices.

  • Curmudgeon

    Chris,

    What, exactly, is your point? This is a discussion of what some would like to see on Montague Street. What was hijacked?

    Ah, to be a twenty-something “man” who wants another place to booze it up (with no place to go) and to suffer the indignity of having others talk about a bakery!

    Sounds like you need some anger management, son. Perhaps you need to “move on out” to the Village where there are others of your ilk – and plenty of places to DRINK!

  • Jonas Von Groucheau

    Cakeshop should open here and everyone would be happy.

  • JGM

    I agree with Chris – the threads often turn into what used to be on Montague St, etc….but I think we do need a bakery as I always like some snacks after boozing and carousing!

  • bornhere

    Okay, okay — I agree (and I am a prime “offender” here) that there is a lot of nostalgi-a-rama.
    That said, isn’t it too bad that there isn’t some way to influence what kinds of stores take root (if even briefly) in one’s neighborhood. I mean, if the Mazzolas or Monteleones (of baked-goods fame) could be asked to consider a Montague Street location; or if the owners of the Carroll Street fish market could give some thought branching out. We really are at the mercy of those who have the “M-F Mall” mentality that just doesn’t serve the “hoodies” very well. (But does anyone remember those great butter-churn and hoop-rolling demonstrations during the old Montague Street fairs? Kidding. Just kidding. Maybe.)

  • Jonas Von Groucheau

    I say we focus our lazers on the landlords. Who owns what?

  • JGM

    Wining Around New York – But not in the Heights!

    April 9, 2008

    The NY Times’ Eric Asimov highlights the proliferation of wine bars throughout the city (131 at last count by newyorkwinebarguide.com), particularly those offering snacks and small plates far beyond the charcuterie and cheese one might typically expect. And they’re not all Italian either.

    In fact, Asimov spans the globe in his wine bar visits: Spain at Pata Negra, France at Solex, and South Africa at Xai Xai. The lower cost of real estate involved in a wine bar compared to a full-on restaurant has allowed owners to open mini-restaurants of sorts, with creative yet small kitchen-ish spaces, offering small but tasty menus.

    Of those mentioned in the article, we’d certainly recommend Gottino, Solex and Terroir from first hand experience (really, who can resist a menu that has a section called “fried stuff”?), but there are other standbys you should add to your list, although they’re not as new, including Total Wine Bar in Park Slope, Bar Carrera and Bar Veloce (the old guard), Batali’s Bar Jamon, and relative newcomer the 8th Street Wine Cellar, which not only has an approachable wine list and a menu that changes seasonally, but also has a selection of craft brewed beers and a full bar for the non-oenophiles among your friends.

    Photo: a trio of sparking wine from Blue Ribbon Bar.

  • nabeguy

    Jeez, I didn’t know think that mentioning Silver’s was going to lead to a generational showdown over what the future of Montague Street should be. Silver’s was, in fact, a great multi-service type of store (stationary/toys/widgets), the likes of which young’uns like Chris have probably never known. That being said, even an “elder” like me has not lost so much of my vision to see that places like that are dinosaurs in the exisiting world of high rents. And it is exactly those high rents that would preclude most of the places that people are pining for, like bakeries,from ever surviving on the block, unless they were to charge exorbitant prices. The return-to-square-foot ratio just isn’t there to support a small business, so we’re going to be stuck with large chains and such, who survive on the economy of scale. If anyone knows the story of Lafayette Bakery in the Village, it’s a perfect case in point.