The Brooklyn Eagle spoke with Fatih Deirbas, owner of the fruit stand that popped up on Henry Street a couple of weeks ago. He tells the paper that he has many fans in the neighborhood but also that some people have complained. CB2′s Robert Perris tells that paper that everything with the cart is legal including its distance from the subway entrance and an a-OK from the NYPD.
Brooklyn Eagle: Fruit Stand…: “There has been a mistaken impression that all of Brooklyn Heights is off-limits to street vendors,” Irene Janner, office manager of the Brooklyn Heights Association, told the Brooklyn Eagle Monday. But “only Montague Street is off-limits,” she said. “A lot of residents don’t like it [the fruit stand], and there are issues with his van parked at the meters all day. When does the street get swept?”
On the other hand, Janner said, “some people like it.”
“Somebody complained, the police came here three times,” said Deirbas. He says someone from the city told him, “If somebody bothers you I’ll give you some papers. So thank God. We have a permit from the city — everything is legal.”
why would anyone complain about him? nice guy, great fruit… i HATE the yuppies in this ‘hood.
The Lovely Fruit guys (that’s their name, and not my opinion of them) are about as mom-and-pop as you can get. Give them a break, for goodness sake. They’re on the location 24/7, so not only are they providing the nabe with health benefits but security ones as well.
Yeah. And just a couple of blocks away from the Fruit streets!
i want one near borough hall!
I’m all for it, but since the truck is part of his “shop”, I’d like to see the graffitti removed, just like any other store should present itself well.
Hopefully the owner is paying the proper sales tax to the City. As long as he’s licensed and obeys the rules, more power to him.
I’m one of the yuppie scum, and I can’t imagine anyone complaining about this. In fact, I’d guess it’s one of the old timers.
makes me sick that people complain about this, he has good quality fruit and great prices.
The truck has been replaced with a smaller and very tasteful (!) navy blue van sans writing of any kind.
Kid who sells seems to be there the livelong day. And night.
Funny that the BHA is quoting others as being against the stand, since the parking and street-sweeping issues that are mentioned are two of their big bug-a-boos. Maybe if some people took their noses out of the air, they’d actually enjoy the smell of the fresh fruit.
Oh it’s probably just Peas and Pickles complaining that they can’t charge their ridiculously overexpensive prices for the same (or worse) fruit. More power to the fruit vendors!!
competition is good
I like the fruit guy, but can you just set up a shop there? Can I? Can I sell anything (legal)?
maybe the fruit guy has a friend who can set up next to him a stand seling sunglasses and cell phone cases (as long as he has a permit, of course)
the streets get cleaned before the meters start. so if he was parking during those hours he would geta ticket. seriously people have nothing better to do than pick on some guy trying to make a living. even worse that he is actually providing a great service to the neioghborhood. wake up people this is NYC. street vendors are apart of our lives!
“maybe the fruit guy has a friend who can set up next to him a stand seling sunglasses and cell phone cases (as long as he has a permit, of course)”
Actually, we need good produce in BH. Other than the Green Market (which I can only get to on Saturdays) our selection is pretty limited. Our local supermarket produce tends to be pretty hit or miss, so I’m happy to support the fruit guy.
“Oh it’s probably just Peas and Pickles complaining that they can’t charge their ridiculously overexpensive prices …”
Them or Han’s. I’m sorry, but an apple doesn’t cost a dollar.
Love this fruit stand. Prices good fruit good. Glad he changed van though cuz other reminded me where I use to live in the old days before I became rich and famous. On second thought, considering his backdrop of Gristedes and those ugly Mitchell Lama tall buildings, the graffiti is an improvement. I hate those tall ugly buildings and wonder, every time I pass all three of them, what was the city thinking. Ugly, ugly, ugly.
Long live fruit guy! I wouldn’t mind seeing an entire line-up of carts and trucks–we need some additional food options to replace the shuttered Busted Chef establishments. Perhaps we could entice some of the Red Hook ballfield food vendors to set up shop during the week. Or maybe convince the Waffle truck to make a stop?
…wait….there’s a waffle truck?
@Jazz
yup, there’s a waffle truck: http://www.wafelsanddinges.com/
and from the article below, he’s looking for more Brooklyn locations to make regular stops at. Imagine if he parked next to the fruit dude…
http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/4/31_04thewafflesarehere.html
WAFFLES!!!
Perfect fit. You just step over to the left for the fresh fruit to top them with.
I was all for the fruit guy. Then I bought blueberries and a couple of lemons. The berries are OK, but one of the two lemons was moldy. Oh well, I guess it’s back to shopping in Manhattan before I get on the train…
I think the best way to kill two birds with one stone is to kick out the grifters who have been operating the revolving door of restaurants at the Corner of Cranberry, and bring back Norman! He had a good variety of fruit and produce, cheap prices and friendly/helpful service.
Maybe we can also get a cart that turns into a wine bar, a fish cart, bakery cart, sports bar cart…
Maybe we can get an identity theft cart.
With all the bad apples we got with COC, it’s nice to have some fresh ones in the nabe.
I noticed they have a second cart at Henry/Montague in front of Cororan.