Photo: QueensPost
Oct. 27, 2011 Staff Report
The former location of Casa Romana, which was shut down after several criminal incidents, is going to be a 99cent/discount store, according to an employee who was working on the site yesterday.
Meanwhile, across Queens Blvd, where Master Billiards was located, the discount store Deal$ is in the process of moving in.
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Please, we really don’t need another 99C store selling bad quality products, expired food and seriously questionable taste household decor!!! Come on!!!! There is one already just across the street, which in my opinion is an eye sore to the neighborhood with all the plastic shoes and used clothes exposed on the sidewalk!!
Sunnyside would benefit much more from a good shoe store, clothing store, or even another restaurant!
C’mon Jimmy and Chamber of commerce, you can do better then that…3 discount stores in a matter of a few blocks. Jimmy stopped a strip club from coming to Sunnyside central (great job BTW) and he appropriated money for a park renovation and dog park (yes its been years and promises ago but looks like it will happen)….if he has control over those things why not this. The bar is being lowered.. yes he is responsible for this indirectly. The neighborhood is being marginalized..nice pawn shop too …adds a great touch. Maybe it’s time to go and move to East NY where its cheaper and has all the same classy stores Sunnyside is going to have.
@ Raquel It takes a writer of great skill to communicate “tongue in cheek.” So, I will leave that to you. The fact that I missed it, may clue you in to something, if you think about it for a while.
IRA asked, “How about we voice our concerns at the next BID or town hall meeting?” The BID’S last general meeting was 17 months ago!!
sunnyside_south writes<"the results of under-qualified, ineffective BID leadership continue".
Mrs. Frank, writes ''The Sunnyside BID has to stop bamboozling us."
Here are BID'S Chairman, John Vogt, said, AS QUOTED HERE ON SUNNYSIDE POST.
“In my opinion this has been a great year for Sunnyside considering the economic environment,” said John Vogt, the chairman of the BID. “The number of vacancies is quite low compared to other parts of the city… but obviously we want to do better.”
“We would like to get boutique stores here, and we might…but we also have to play to our strengths, which are pubs, restaurants and entertainment.”
Meanwhile, local resident David Shenton said the BID should do more to reach out to the public. “We would gladly try to help the cause of local businesses.” Shenton said.
SEE YOU ALL IN 17 MONTHS, IF YOU ARE INVITED!!
Why is it that while other areas in the outer boroughs, including Astoria and LIC, are thriving with trendy new bars and restaurants, Sunnyside is still attracting 99 cent & discount stores? We’re so much closer to Manhattan than some of the most popular areas of Brooklyn, Sunnyside apartments are, in my experience, a lot more spacious than many in Brooklyn, yet people would rather move to Park Slope or Fort Greene (which is quite a shlep and way more expensive) than Sunnyside. We’re finally starting to attract some great places like Salt & Fat and Pink Icing (if it ever opens) and we get two discount stores across the street from each other. I constantly hear the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce patting themselves on the back about what an amazing job they’re doing for the community, yet this demographic is changing in this area, which means demands and tastes are changing as well, and they don’t seem to notice or care.
Watcher: it’s called tongue in cheek. You might try it sometime.
@Raquel It seems to me your posts are always angry. Take a look at that.
I may be naive, but why does everyone think the state of business on Queens Blvd. is Jimmy Van Braemer’s fault? I never heard anyone blame Gioia for anything like that. We are in the worst economy in 80 years. Don’t you think that may have an effect on local business?
And Walmart would be horrible for Sunnyside. Put it down in LIC somewhere if you want to support slavery in third world countries, create vast amounts of car and truck traffic and pollution here, and push wages down as low as they can go for the working class in NY. Oh, and have tons and tons more cheap plastic crap to put in our landfills. Those are good reasons to bring Walmart into Sunnyside.
Let’s Occupy Sunnyside – we can start by taking over the private park on 39th Avenue, the one that is getting public funds, and then take over the offices of Jimmy Van B. and Cathy Nolan and ask them to order in pizzas for us.
I think that some people are starting to open their eyes to JVB and Nolan. I hope it is enough people to make a difference. This weekend’s delays with the number 7 were terrible – and I am sure it hurt business at The Secret Theater in LIC.
I’ve always wondered…do any of the businesses that are part of the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce have unionized work forces? I realize that I’m flying blind here; but, I’m pretty confident that the answer is, “No”. I’ll go further out on the limb I’m on and state (blindly) that if any of those businesses did have unionized work forces, they’d incur costs which would put them out of business.
So…why does the Chamber of Commerce suck up to Nolan and Van Brammer–two politicians who are in power because of union money flooding their campaign coffers? I’ve never understood it: if one is in business, why not get together–as a group, with pooled funds–and nominate one of your own to oppose the tax-and-spend-union-allied-status-quo-politicians? I realize that they (Nolan & Van Brammer) are the powers that be/are; but, the united businesses would be a formidable block in opposition. Why leave it up to an under-funded actor/bartender (me) to oppose the usual suspects?
This Chamber of Commerce allying itself with Nolan and Van Brammer is just a huge dis-connect for me. It doesn’t add up.
Somebody must be smoking the 7 train.
Jeeze, this really is a bad joke. Sometimes I think this neighborhood is hopeless. How many times can you get your nails done or go to a 99 cent store? Are these stores fronts for something else? We could use a shoe store.
Another shlock store? Is this a joke?
108th Precinct Community Council
Community Council
President: Diane R. Ballek Vice President: Patricia Dorfman Recording Secretary: Rita Lowry Corresponding Secretary: Bert McDonald Treasurer: Donald McCallian Sergeant at Arms: Frank Carrado
Meetings: Community Council Meetings are held on the last Tuesday of the month. The meetings are held at 7:00 p.m. at the following address:
Sunnyside Community Services 1st floor 41-31 39th Street, Sunnyside, NY 11104
All members of the community are welcome.
Let’s go!!!
Roughly 90% of your mom and pop small business’ will close.
Why would a Walmart be bad for Sunnyside? I don’t know of any Walmarts in Queens, but people who’ve shopped at them elsewhere are always very positive about inventory and prices.
Roxy… Any idea how bad a Walmart would be for Sunnyside?
The Sunnyside BID has to stop bamboozling us.
Queens has still to get a Walmart. Perhaps Sunnyside should start campaigning for it. A Walmart would really put us on the shopping map, and also provide jobs for many who live in the area.
Actuallly what we do need is a electronci store tht does sell Ipads and nooks and books and magazines. I am not sure if pc rickards on 50th street and qblvd sells that stuff but we could use that type of business here. we have plenty of phone stores here. if we can tie that to a coffee nook as well . too bad star bucks does not take in books and magaiznes and nooks and kindles in that big store of theirs.
I’d like to interrupt this comment thread to point out that bookstores are dead. There won’t ever be a new bookstore opening in Sunnyside. Ever. It’s time to find a new dream.
Continue.
if you’re looking for the best 99 cent stores in nyc, come to sunnyside! the worst place to shop, seriously! so much potential, yet so disappointing.
How do 99c stores keep popping up? How do the existing ones stay in business? 75% of these need to go away for good.
great news! maybe they’ll have a thai food court, in-store nail salon, and pub all together under one roof!
i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: BID and SS CoC are a complete joke. their only job is to make sunnyside an appealing place for businesses and customers. and at this job, they fail fail fail miserably.
go ahead and blame the landlords, but i’ll bet great tenants weren’t exactly lined up to begin with.
I’m sure that Mr. Connolly will be wearing his best 99 cent bought suit at the Community Board meeting.
Sofia- thanks! Can I sign up on line?
Community Board 2 meets the first Thursday of the month, so November 3 at Sunnyside Community Services. 7pm. You have to sign up to speak at the meeting.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the unnamed employee was just messin’ with us, and it’s actually going to be a bookstore? //wishful thinking
The 99 cent store needs a fortune telling booth to class it up.
what’s next another pawn shop? ugh!
Knock knock.
Who’s there?
99.
99 what?
99 more 99cent stores for Sunnyside!
another store full of cheap plastic junk made in china. isn’t another 99 cent store opening up where the billiards used to be? how many more of these junk stores do we need? there seems to be one on every block. welcome to the “HOOD”….ridiculous. well, i hope the damn store goes out of business really soon.
43rd@43rd – HAHAHAHAHAHA that made my day! “Buy one get one free” what a classic.
But really, when is the next BID-whatever thing?
the results of under-qualified, ineffective BID leadership continue.
43rd@43rd: killing it.
JVB: knock knock. Anyone home?
To really spruce these great stores up they should have the bottle recycling machines placed out front.
Open one “99C or more store”, and get the second one free!
Ira when is the next town hall meeting? or better we should call up brammer and ask for a town hall meeting.
Awesome…it’ll compliment the Pawn shops just nicely!
99 cent suits – I’d shop there. Then I’d go as Van Bremer as Halloween – killer of Sunnyside masquerading as someone who gives a SH1t about this town. Him and Sunnyside BID has to go. Meanwhile I will do my shopping elsewhere as usual and drag it back to Sunnyside.
Seriously, I’ve had enough of these stores. The BID and local chamber of commerce must do more to promote real stores. It looks like a lot of people agree. How about we voice our concerns at the next BID or town hall meeting?
Southie I agree with you. If the bid and the chamber got togher and we the help of the sunnyide post and we hightlighted our store owners we would create a positive attitude in our town and then we would atttact some new business here. Like what the other posts are saying we would like to have here. Maybe it would work. I know Christian is great at watching his site. We need some help in a positive way to grow our town and keep our dollars here not in astoria or forest hills or maspeth.
HERE!!!
I agree with pretty much every poster here.
Southie – having good commercial businesses helps decrease crime in neighborhoods.
Great idea about the letter-writing campaign and the local-business profiles, Southie! The primary way I find out about new businesses is through this blog alone—I’m sure some older businesses could benefit from the publicity.
I am far more concerned about increasing crime rates than I ever will be about the number of 99 cent stores in the neighborhood. A letter writing campaign to the 108th, the police commissioner and JVB protesting the lack of police presence seems more likely to help the neighborhood than throwing a fit over a 99 cent store.
I would really like Sunnyside Post to interview the owners of our local, independent stores and businesses. We have some great businesses here that many locals may not even be aware of. Maybe a business in the spotlight each week? We are not a destination. We need locals to know about the great places we already have. Since the MTA strands us here most weekends, and probably plans to for the next decade or two, people should know about the neighborhood shopping options.
Bookstores are closing because of the Nook and e-books. Branches of Barnes & Noble are closing. We need a shoe store or a real clothing store.
I am willing to try, I am willing to get together with concerned people to discuss this matter and do something about it. I — and I bet a lot of you — have much to lose if this neighborhood takes a bad turn.
I love the idea of getting a few name brand fashion stores here and there. A book store would be lovely. But we have to watch out and not allow the chain stores to overtake this neighborhood. I don’t want my moms and pops to go out of business. It’s a really hard balancing act.
Must be a front for something else.
BID should be helping the landlords attract business. I work in real estate (although not commercial) and by creating brochures and helping brokers MARKET the neighborhood, and sending this info out to places like say, Payless or B+N or TJ Max or whatever, you can attract these type of places to your neighborhood.
I remember hearing a few towns in NJ doing this many years ago to attract Starbucks – which brought larger stores. They had varying degrees of success, but why not TRY?
Ok I’ll be nice and write a letter. And I hope some other people will as well.
But if I’ll see one more crap store open in Sunnyside, I’ll show the Sunnyside Chamber of Commerce what I think.
We need to call the bid off of JamesBray and let him know how we feel about all these 99 cent stores opening up. Lets not let them open up. Lets start to protest these business or protest the bid office. We need different business in our town. Like a book store or a jean store or a music store. or a furniture store. Why not here why only 99cent stores.
WHAT!!!!!!! WHAT THE ARE THEY THINKING!? THOSE OWNERS WILL MAKE THIS HOOD IN TO A SLUM! YES A SLUM!!!!
This neighborhood is going down so fast that it’s not even funny. Really you can close your eyes, spin a few times, and throw a rock and I bet you will break a window of a 99c store or a salon or a pond shop. We reeeaally, really, really don’t need this 99c store there.
We should do something about it. Anyone have any ideas??
Hell I’m willing do an Occupy Sunnyside. It could be like “We the 65%”
Or find where the landlord lives and let him/her know what we think!
Or walk your dog there and not pick up after them!!!!
But really, any ideas?
Couldn’t agree more that we need REAL stores in the neighborhood. Asked the BID recently if we could get Curves back in the area and was told to find a place for it and maybe they could try — this could have been a good place rather than another junk store. This is not helping, it’s only making the area look worse
99¢ or More.
Actually it’s not too crazy to have such stores on opposite sides of the boulevard. Then you don’t have to cross QB to buy faulty can openers, tube socks, etc.
I am with Peggy G – We desperately need a good bookstore around here!
I used to live down the Block. Why can’t it remain a Restaurant. Somebody step up. As I recall the interior was beautiful. The neighborhood does not need another disgusting 99cent store!!
Seriously. This is getting out of hand.
How about getting some REAL stores in the neighborhood for a change?
We have enough 99 cent stores. What we need are clothing stores and shoe stores. I am sick of traveling to other neighborhoods to spend my money. I would like to keep it in my neighborhood. I the Sunnyside BID should try to get real stores here. How about a bookstore? We need to build up this neighborhood with real shopping!
REALLY?
F*** this place.
How many 99 Cent stores do these people think we need? Go AWAY! You’re an eye sore and are just bringing down the the value of real estate.
Just swell!
wow…right across the street from the new one Real Deals thats opening — race to see which one closes first!
I want someone to open a 98cent store. They’d make a killing!