Beloved Park Slope venue pivots
to retail to survive pandemic
BY BEN VERDE
As the temperature drops
and the practicality of outdoor
dining turns questionable, one
Park Slope watering hole is
pivoting to retail to stay afl oat
amid the ongoing coronavirus
pandemic.
Barbès, the long-running
music venue and bar on Ninth
Street near Sixth Avenue, is
offering bottles of wine and liquor
for sale in an effort to survive
the long winter ahead.
“We’re hoping it can sustain
us through the end of the
tunnel,” said Barbès owner
Olivier Conan. “We’re trying
to turn into more of a retail
place, selling the types of products
we didn’t have before.”
Conan says he has spent
time researching higher
quality booze than the bar
currently offers, including
DRINKS
Barbès Bottle Shop, 379
Ninth St. near Sixth Avenue
in Park Slope, (347) 422-0248,
barbesbottleshop.com
natural wines from small producers,
COURIER L 34 IFE, DECEMBER 4-10, 2020
local producers and
hard to fi nd Georgian wines.
“I’m French and wine has
been in my background forever,”
Conan said. “I really
love the network of small producers
that are not farming in
the way big farmers have been
farming in the past 50 years.”
Barbès has offered outdoor
seating since the summer, but
the venue lacks the space to
build an enclosed patio, and
with revenues at only 20 percent
of what they once were,
installing gas heaters would
be too expensive, said Conan.
Still, the bar owner hopes
his pivot to retail will help get
the Park Slope staple through
the colder months.
Customers can order booze
on Barbès’ new website and
pick it up at the bar. Conan
also plans on soon offering delivery
for big orders.
In the meantime, Conan
says he’s gotten a good response
to the new service.
Since launching the bottle
shop on Nov. 23, he said, he’s
heard from a bevy of Barbès’
regulars who want to keep
the beloved venue in business
through the pandemic.
“It’s really been great to
see the response from people,”
he said. “There’s a lot of people
that want to support us —
it feels good.”
BY ROSE ADAMS
The Brooklyn Public Library’s
Gravesend Branch
will get a $250,000 makeover
that will make the building
more storm-resilient, offi cials
announced on Nov. 24.
The library, located on Avenue
X by W. Second Street,
will receive a facade upgrade
with brick masonry reconstruction
and window replacement,
site drainage in
the parking lot, and repairs
in the basement to stop leaking
during rainstorms.
Library leaders say that
offi cials began designing
the renovation before the
COVID-19 pandemic, but construction
will not begin until
the New York City Department
of Design and Construction
resumes non-essential
construction projects, which
have been paused because
of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once construction begins,
the renovations will take between
2.5 and three years, library
offi cials said.
The funds for the fi x-up
were allocated by Treyger,
who said he heard that the library
needed to fi ll a budgetary
shortfall for the construction.
“I look forward to the new
chapter that awaits the Gravesend
library,” said Treyger,
who said he allocated the capital
funds after hearing that
the renovations had been put
on pause because of the shortfall.
“It is a neighborhood resource
center that so many of
our residents rely on, and it
will be a major quality of life
improvement for our community
to have a state-of-the-art
facility to enjoy.”
The library’s chief executive
thanked Treyger for his
contributions, and said that
the renovations will greatly
improve the Gravesend
Branch, which has remained
closed amid the pandemic.
“We are grateful to Councilman
Treyger for allocating
$250,000 toward a crucial
building upgrade at
Gravesend Library and for
his longstanding support of
libraries across his district
and the borough,” said Linda
E. Johnson, the president
of Brooklyn Public Library.
“Brooklyn Public Library’s
mission is to provide a safe
welcoming space to learn and
grow in every neighborhood,
and we look forward to the
day when we can welcome patrons
back to their improved
branch.”
Hit the bottle
Gravesend Library receives $250,000
for storm-resilient renovations
BROOKLYN
Some dry reading
The interior of Barbès Barbès
The Gravesend Library on Avenue X will receive $250,000 in upgrades.
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