Closing one by one!

Businesses are closing left and right in Cobble Hill. Next door neighbors Miriam and Jill's Vegan Organic closed within days of each other. Could landlords - and overpriced rents - be to blame? Okay, the businesses share some of the responsibility. Miriam (which still has a location in Park Slope) was never anything amazing. They had a killer brunch, but the service was super slow and there was always a wait. (I ate dinner there once and it was just OK but was way over priced.) I'm sad to see it go 'cause it was one of the only good brunch places in the neighborhood and now the storefront will probably sit empty for a long time considering the current market conditions. Jill's actually had great food but really had no atmosphere and never was a place you wanted to go for dinner. The food was amazing for what it was but I never thought it was worth the hefty price tag.

I really think it's because landlords were charging exorbitant rents for these places. I always seem to balk at the numbers landlords give me for their commercial spaces. Can you imagine renting a space for a bar on Columbia street for 5k a month? There have been plenty of closures over the last couple of months but this trend has been a long time coming. I think landlords are about to get a big reality check as places sit empty for longer and longer and don't fetch the 10k a month some of them are trying to pocket.


Maybe if the rents come down, we'll get more of what the neighborhood needs: great food and decent prices.