Daniel MaurerSubways at 108 and 226 First Ave, Avenue B, and Houston Street. Not shown: another on Second Ave and still another on Bowery.

With 7-Elevens opening left and right and the community board strategizing ways to keep small businesses in the East Village, chain stores have been on our minds this week – as well as on the minds of readers. “7-Eleven in a historic neighborhood like the East Village is not O.K.,” wrote JP. Another commenter, Local of East Village, disagreed: “I think 7-Eleven is an example of one thing that is good about the 1 percent. We see here, a major corporation, giving a regular Joe the plumber the chance to turn his own profit.” And Johnny C was also pro-chain: “The local hardware stores charge 50 percent to 100 percent more than Home Depot and Lowe’s and the Bean charges $6 or $7 for a pastry. You really believe that benefits local residents?”

Here’s a question: If you lined up every chain store and bank in the neighborhood, how many blocks would they span? We’re working on the answer right now, but before we reveal it: What’s your guess?

Daniel Maurer

David Ravvin, a 29-year-old graduate of N.Y.U.’s Stern School of Business, is opening a sushi joint where Cotan once rolled rice at 135 First Avenue, near St. Marks Place. As you can see from the plywood art created Tuesday by street artist Para, he’s hoping his concept will be a bit more iconic than his predecessor’s was.

The name of the 14-seat restaurant, Iconic Hand Rolls, is a play on the word “cone” – a reference to the funnel-like rolls that Japanese cooking authority Hiroko Shimbo created for the 8- to 12-item menu.  Read more…

Natalie Rinn

Could new zoning help bring mom-and-pop businesses to the East Village and Lower East Side, and keep them there? Community Board 3’s Economic Development Subcommittee met last night to continue a discussion about retail diversity.

Mary DeStefano, the Urban Planning Fellow from Hunter College who has been working with the board, again raised the possibility of Special Purpose Districts, 20 of which have been created in Manhattan by the City Planning Commission in order to meet the specific needs of their neighborhoods. In Community Board 3, such a district would likely put a cap on chain stores and curb operating hours. Ms. DeStefano clarified that S.P.D.’s are “not banning anything, just seeking a way to preserve it, and it’s just giving the community some level of control.” Read more…

Daniel Maurer

Just minutes ago, The Local got an early look inside the 7-Eleven that’s caused such a fuss on St. Marks Place, but any hope of bringing powdered mini donuts back to everyone at the office went poof when an employee told us the store wouldn’t open for another hour. Still, clerks were nice about letting lurkers take it all in, and one reporter jotted down notes by the chili-cheese dispenser. So here’s your first look inside: thank heaven for 7-Eleven?

Update | 12 a.m. Norman Jemal, the store’s owner, tells us it opened about twenty minutes ago. “Everyone’s been really supportive,” he said. “We’ve been giving away free Slurpees and free coffee.”

Hot on the heels of yesterday’s news that L’asso EV is getting into the bagel biz: Panya, the Japanese bakery known for its strawberry milk, cheese corn bread, and other goodies, has started serving plain, sesame, and everything bagels. From 7:30 a.m. to 11 a.m., you can get ’em with butter ($2), cream cheese ($3), or egg and cheese ($4) with the options of ham or sausage for a buck more.

Daniel Maurer

Hussein Elhage will be without a powerful competitive edge when a 7-Eleven opens a couple of doors down from his convenience store. The State Liquor Authority has suspended his license to sell beer.

Back in December, St. Marks Convenience was one of several East Village stores caught up in a series of underage sales busts. The shopkeeper, who has owned the store since 1990, told The Local he was being unfairly targeted.

The State Liquor Authority wasn’t all that sympathetic: In late February, the Authority imposed a 30-day suspension and a $10,000 fine on the store. Read more…

Daniel maurer

“Are you keeping the Kiss mural?” That’s what David Conn of Community Board 3’s S.L.A. Committee wanted to know last night about the restaurant that will replace Nice Guy Eddie’s.

“We’re discussing; it depends on the windows,” said Darren Rubell, the co-owner of Ella and Gallery Bar who plans to turn the 16-year-old bar into a comfort-food restaurant with large windows. Mr. Rubell pledged to take the sentimental value of Chico’s longstanding mural into consideration before making a final decision. “It’s been blogged about,” he said, “I’m keeping an eye on it. It’s iconic.” Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Norman Jemal, the owner of the soon-to-open 7-Eleven on St. Marks Place, is ready to bury the hatchet with whoever smashed the window of his store.

The soda machine is already operating, the fridge is getting stocked with Gatorade, and the 14 coffee dispensers are in place. The new 7-Eleven on St. Marks Place is set to open on Wednesday with a new window pane on its storefront, following vandalism during Saturday night’s anarchist-fueled mayhem.

Stephen Rex Brown The cracked window.

“People have the right to express themselves, hopefully non-violently and without property damage,” said the owner of the convenience store, Norman Jemal. “Everyone has the right to their own opinion — though I’m not exactly sure what their opinion is.”

Mr. Jemal had heard rumors about the rowdy goings-on at Astor Place and off of Washington Square Park that likely led to his window getting cracked, but said he was unaware of the details. After hearing about the attack on Starbucks, he sought to distance himself from other corporate businesses. “This is not a standard powerhouse chain store. They’re all franchised to people like me,” he said, adding that the replacement window is “not cheap.” Read more…

Noah Fecks

Thought the bagel burger was unorthodox? L’asso EV is getting into the bagel business, and the restaurant and pizzeria plans to offer hemp-seed, gluten-free, and even vegan varieties.

The ingredients aren’t the only thing of note: the all-organic orbs will be baked for 10 to 12 minutes in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven at the beginning of the day and then toasted in the same oven, to order. Greg Barris, a co-owner of the restaurant, said the bagels will be a whole different story from the traditional kettle-boiled variety. “They’re not as puffy and they have that wood flavor to them,” he told The Local, going on to liken them to harder, flatter Montreal-style bagels. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Ronald Bell, seated in a Swedish throne used in an opera, must close his 10-year-old business by April 20.

Ronald Bell is having a going out of business sale, but the feud with his landlord may not be going anywhere. Following a lengthy dispute over money owed to the co-op at 48 Great Jones Street, Mr. Bell is closing Art & Industry, his 10-year-old store packed with mid-century modern furniture, art and knick-knacks.

At the entrance is a Swedish throne with wheels, used in an opera, that’s marked down to $3,500. An old console like the ones used at Remote Lounge, the voyeuristic drinks den that used to be around the corner on Bowery, is a mere $500. A disco vision player (a precursor to Laserdiscs) is also $500. (See below for photos of the stuff on sale.) Mr. Bell said that merchandise he hasn’t been able to get rid of for 30 years is at last flying off the shelves thanks to the sale — even Jude Law dropped in on Thursday to check out the bargains. Read more…

No more bumping elbows with the person next to you while gobbling noodles. The new location of Rai Rai Ken is open and roughly double the size of the previous space just a couple doors down on East 10th Street between First and Second Avenues.

Acting manager Yo Katsuse said that the restaurant was in soft-opening mode, and that the official opening date is April 29. “We need to get used to operating in a place this size,” said Mr. Katsuse, 35.

The previous location, which has now closed, only had room for 15 seats at the counter facing the kitchen. The new Rai Rai Ken still has a counter — a feature popular with many customers, Mr. Katsuse said — but also has tables for larger groups. All told, the place can seat 31 people. Read more…

Stephen Rex Brown Andre Balazs explains his plans for the remodeled Standard East Village.

The famed hotelier Andre Balazs pitched his plans for the remodeled Standard East Village to East Fifth Street residents on Thursday night, explaining that the Cooper Square Hotel’s layout on the bottom two floors was a key factor in its bankruptcy.

The owner of the recently renamed 21-story hotel intends to reorient the main floors to the west by creating an outdoor dining area that faces the Bowery, as well as a new lobby.

“The hotel failed,” said Mr. Balazs. “We bought it from bankruptcy. One reason was that the public spaces didn’t work.”

The rearrangement would also, he added, reduce the noise that angered neighbors, some of whom have windows that abut the hotel. Read more…

Daniel Maurer

After a 16-year run, Nice Guy Eddie’s will be replaced by a restaurant operated by Darin Rubell, the owner of Ella and Gallery Bar, documents posted on the Community Board 3 website reveal.

David McWater, the owner of the bar at Avenue A and East Houston Street, has not returned an email seeking comment. Mr. Rubell also had no comment. A liquor license questionnaire, prepared for the community board’s SLA committee in advance of a meeting next week, says that the new 10-table restaurant will serve “American comfort food” from 11 a.m. to 4 a.m. everyday. It also notes that the restaurant will include “numerous” televisions, raising the possibility that it will continue catering to sports fans. No word yet on whether the new joint will be dominated by boisterous Philadelphia Eagles fans on any given Sunday, as is the case with Nice Guy’s. Read more…

For every East Village business that’s opening or closing, dozens are quietly making it. Here’s one of them: Plantworks.

Shira Levine

It ain’t easy being green. Neil Mendeloff, a onetime Parks Department employee, and his wife Verna, a terrarium and bonsai specialist, opened Plantworks on Mercer Street some 38 years ago; it moved to Waverly Place two years later and eventually put down roots at 28 East Fourth Street, where for the past 28 years it has helped beautify many a Manhattan home, university, restaurant, government building and hotel. But now, Mr. Mendeloff says, his rent may double. Unless his landlord extends an olive branch, his lush wonderland of Florida palm trees, Japanese maples, and Oregon pines could end up buried six feet under. We asked him how he’s managed to make it this far.

You have a lot of space in the heart of some high-traffic blocks. What are you working with size- and price-wise?

I’ve got about 3,600 square feet here and started out paying about $2,800 a month. We’ve been up to about $15,000 a month recently. There have been slight reductions during recessionary times though. I also have the yard next door and have a separate landlord for that which is an additional cost. It’s an additional $6,000 a month. Read more…

Natalie Rinn Susan Stetzer points at documents as S.L.A.
committee chair Alexandra Militano leafs through them.

Before finalizing a controversial set of stipulations that would ease Community Board 3’s stance against new beer-and-wine licenses in nightlife-heavy areas – so long as applicants agree to close shop early – a task force decided last night to seek counsel from a higher power: the State Liquor Authority.

During a meeting at C.B. 3’s offices last night, District Manager Susan Stetzer said that the board should repair a feeling that it is particularly unbending, shared by applicants and the S.L.A. alike. “We have become infamous,” she said, explaining that applicants’ lawyers approach the S.L.A. and say, “C.B. 3 has a moratorium [on new licenses in resolutions areas], and it’s illegal” – a sentiment with which S.L.A. chair Dennis Rosen agrees, according to Ms. Stetzer. “We are losing respect and clout,” she said. Read more…

Want to sport Michelle Obama sneakers while sipping Barack-branded coffee? Here’s the place to go: Hip-Hop U.S.A, a Harlem-based company that puts on sneaker-art competitions, has opened a pop-up shop at 343 Lafayette Street, between Bleecker and Bond Streets. The Local stopped into the store’s opening to check out sneakers painted by graffiti artists in the style of their train murals from the 1970s and 80s. Seems subway artists are making a comeback.

Stephen Rex Brown Ichiraku Ramen at 141 First Avenue.

The ramen joint that replaced Setagaya on First Avenue between St. Marks Place and East Ninth Street has closed after only 18 months. “Business was bad,” said owner Daniel Song, who confirmed that the restaurant shut down this week.

This certainly doesn’t augur a ramen shortage in the neighborhood, however. Rai Rai Ken, Ippudo, and Kuboya (to name a few) are just a few blocks away. Ramen aficionados may recall that the arrival of Setagaya (now on St. Marks Place) at this First Avenue location in 2007 was hyped as a showdown between the Japanese chain’s “authentic” cooking versus the more experimental noodle dishes served a few storefronts away at Momofuku Noodle Bar.

Daniel Maurer

The Third Street storefront where a psychic known as Cathy plied her trade is still boarded up, but the end of fortune telling in the East Village doesn’t seem to be nigh. A month ago, neon signs announcing a “Life Coach” and “Psychic Boutique” appeared in a window at 39 East First Street, between First and Second Avenues.

This is where “Ms. Lisa,” 28, is now offering tarot readings, palm readings and life coaching. When The Local stepped into her boutique earlier this week, a shirtless young man appeared from behind an ornamental screen separating the small entryway from the rest of the apartment. “Take a seat,” he said. Ms. Lisa was in the shower. Read more…

“It is the real estate taxes that kill me,” Hossein Amid, owner of Gizmo Sewing Supply told The Local yesterday. “I hope that they do something about the real estate tax because my kind of business doesn’t make that kind of money.”

It’s a complaint we’ve heard more than a few times. Last week it was Abdul Patwary of Dual Specialty Store: “Taxes are really high,” he said. “This month I paid over $5,000. I always pray we’re going to be O.K.”

The week before that, Larry Guttman, a landlord who just leased space to a 7-Eleven, explained, “Property taxes are dramatic. The increases are incredible and they go up steadily every year.” Add to that, some believe that city property-value assessors are overburdened and aren’t trained well enough to make accurate assessments, as The Times reported yesterday.

The Local visited some of East Ninth Street’s beloved business owners to hear what they had to say. Watch the video above and you’ll see that some believe the burden of property taxes has become downright deadly.