Shake Shack Coming to Brooklyn?

By on November 4, 2010 8:07 pm in Brooklyn Heights, Downtown Brooklyn

A BHB reader sent in a tip today that Shake Shack, the famed New York City purveyor of hamburgers and other tasty vittles, would soon arrive at the Fulton Mall. The NY Post wrote today that it’s a done deal and so did the Daily News. But before your mouth waters with thoughts frozen custard and salty french fries, we did a little investigating.

But alas, an e-mail from their spokesperson Theresa Mullen was decidedly ambiguous:

We feel extremely fortunate for the great interest in Shake Shack. As you may be aware, we have openly expressed our intention to bring Shake Shack to compelling sites in great neighborhoods. As such, rumors often circulate about potential openings. We have decided not to comment on any of these rumors until we have something concrete to share. At this time we are focusing our efforts on the operations of our existing Shacks, as well as three new Shacks slated to open in 2011: Washington, DC, Battery Park City and Westport, CT.

What do you think? Should Shake Shack make the trip over the bridge to Brooklyn?

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  • Josh G

    Yes!

  • x

    watch out five guys!

  • Nancy

    It’s in today’s NY Post..Right at the corner of Fulton Mall where Tony’s Pizza is. Probably take over the whole block

  • Deb

    We need one in Fulton Mall for sure, but even more so on Montague street, instead of one more nail salon, dry cleaners or bank!

  • Matthew Parker

    Please, dear God, let it be so.

    In the upmarket burger chain wars:

    #1: In-N-Out (they also have the best gear)

    #2: Shake Shack (their fries are weak, but a good burger. Also dog friends Madison Sq. Park location)

    #3: 5 Guys (their fries help make up for a 3rd place burger)

  • EHinBH

    Yes to SS in BH. Heck no to Fulton Mall locale. What an awful dump!

  • Mickey

    I agree with EH. Fulton Mall is not Brooklyn Heights. You can’t even walk around that neighborhood after dark. If they want to sell burgers in “great neighborhoods,” Fulton Mall is one of the last places they should open.

  • Joe2: The Joe-ening

    I see three upsides to Fulton Mall:

    (1) probably dirt cheap for the amount of space they would need to meet demand for their burgers – more people who hit up shake shack than they would Five Guys, so they’d need more square feet of workspace than up a flight of stairs on Montague;

    (2) It has the outdoor seating option, if it goes to the old Tony’s Pizza area, that made Shake Shack an institution in Madison Square Park;

    (3) It is close enough to BH proper that it can draw a pretty diverse clientele, which it probably wants.

  • Nancy

    Oh please, lets not be so snobby Brooklyn Heights liberals!!. You can walk around there in the evening. Not everyone is a mugger on the other side of the park. And who would want them on Montagu St? Long lines and more tourists? No thanks!! This is a perfect location. You can do a farmer’s market run and then head over for a burger!

  • Chess & Checkers

    Did you folks know that Checkers on Court St (but, you know, still actually in Brooklyn Heights for you northerners who never make it down south), has a backyard and garden seating? Who’d a thunk it–burgers and sky!

  • David on Middagh

    “My Little Pizzaria” on Court St. also has seating out back, though it’s more of a walled-in courtyard.

  • EHinBH

    They will be out of business in a year if they go to FM. People go there for 99 cents stores and bargains – NOT burgers that cost almost $10. Hilarious.

  • Monty

    I think you’re all missing the fact that their target audience will be working lunchers from MetroTech. They will clean up even if none of us ever cross Adams St.

  • Victor

    Exactly. The customers will be MetroTech guys on their lunch break. Tourists staying at the Marriott. Students at Brooklyn Law School and NYU-Poly. Sounds like a winner to me and Fulton Mall is the perfect location for it on one of the busiest intersections in all of Brooklyn.

  • BklynJace

    Strikes me as a pretty good location for them — plenty of room to sit with the wide sidewalk and closed-off street. They’ll draw from FM, MetroTech, Brooklyn Friends, the Heights, etc.

    I would have preferred Brooklyn Bridge Park or the cursed empty block of the North Heights, but that’s the solipsism talking, and why I’m a burger eater instead of a burger entrepreneur.

  • Vickie

    I live in downtown BK . Fulton Mall is getting to be a nicer area, especially with the slightly-wider sidewalks. More “upscale” stores are opening soon, too–I can’t even remember which ones any more! Also, so far, (knock on wood) nothing bad or even remotely scary has happened to me while walking on Fulton Mall or Livingston.

    SS burgers don’t cost $10; more like $6 before the fries. I’ve never had In-&-Out though I’d love to (have never traveled to the west coast) but I have to say I would pick SS over 5G every day.

    I am so thrilled about SS (maybe!)coming to the neighborhood!

  • Jorale-man

    Shake Shack could be an anchor tenant to help revive Fulton Mall, which, while improving, is still a pretty horrible place. Even with the area workers, I wonder if folks will come from Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Brooklyn Heights.

    If you’d want to go out for a nice weekend lunch, you’d inevitably have to walk by guys selling incense, trash blowing up and down the block and people spitting everywhere. But who knows, they could be a real pioneer there.

  • WillowtownCop

    I’ve never had Shake Shack. I would never stand in line for a burger. The burgers at 5 Guys are good but the fries are terrible. Henry Public has the best regular burgers around here, and the Clover Club has really good lamb burgers.

    Anyway, it will be a welcome addition to that block, which currently only has the worst restaurant in all of Brooklyn- Morton’s Steakhouse.

  • David on Middagh

    @Jorale-man: What’s wrong with guys selling incense? It’s eyes on the street, and it smells nice.

  • Jorale-man

    Incense in the nose of the beholder. I’m not a big fan of it myself but I think it brings me back to my college dorm days. The annoying potheads next door would blast Phish and the Grateful Dead at all hours of the day and night while it wafted out through their door. The guys on the Fulton Mall at least have better musical taste.

  • http://NONE LEE

    Shake Shack for Brooklyn YES!!!

  • ABC

    Fulton Mall has the highest rent psf in Brooklyn bcs they have the most retail sales psf in Brooklyn.

    I find the snobbishness and/or ignorance of people pretty amazing.

    It’s not an upscale mall, but not everyone wants an upscale mall. Upscale stores may appeal to the people who post here, but it’s hard to argue with the numbers. A lot of families prefer to shop at Cookies over Baby Gap.

  • Josh G

    Fulton Mall is still kinda trashy but it is indeed improving. The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership has been doing great things to revitalize the area, with commitments from other big-name retailers to come. Shake Shack will be great here, and this snobby Heights resident will definitely go there (often). Yay shackburgers!

  • nomohaight

    I’ve had Shake Shacks tasty little overpriced burgers at the Flatiron location on 23rd sSt. I’m sure they have targeted the yuppies & hipsters who don’t mind paying several dollars for a “nibble”. I see it as an assault on the folks who have always relied on downtown shopping for bargains and an inexpensive bit e to eat. The coming influx of “high end” stores will serve to further ostracise the ordinary working class folks making less than 20k a yr. I’m old enough to remember when anyone could buy lunch on Montegue St. “Gentrification” is often like a cancer that pushes the “little guy” out of the picture by pricing him out of the area. I say no to Shake Shakes & Starbucks and the like.

  • http://www.BrooklynHeightsFolkDancers.org Sarina

    I agree with Deb. Brooklyn Heights is a wonderful neighborhood with very few good places to eat!