6 AUGUST 22, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Merchants blame regs for dying strip
BY MAX PARROTT
MPARROTT@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@RIDGEWOODTIMES
If you need a cavity fi lled, you’ll
have no problem fi nding a dentist
along Myrtle Avenue in Glendale. A
13-block stretch between Fresh Pond
Road and Cooper Avenue has 12 dentist
offi ces alone, along with seven realty
offi ces and seven medical suppliers.
But if you’re in need of something
not related to oral hygiene, real estate
or medicine, chances are you won’t fi nd
it on that strip so easily.
In fact, a survey of the avenue
that QNS and the Ridgewood Times
conducted this week revealed that
there are more closed storefronts —
at least 16 of them — along the area
than active stores for any particular
business category.
Now that local business owners and
elected offi cials are making moves to
resurrect the Glendale Chamber of
Commerce, many merchants say that
the eff ort to strengthen the area’s local
businesses is an uphill battle. They say
any of the problems in the strip stem
from its zoning and the attitudes of the
business community.
Despite these challenges, a new
generation of entrepreneurs is leading
the way to create more destination
businesses that can attract the
neighborhood’s increasing number of
millennial transplants.
Mitchell Todd, a real estate broker at
Carollo Real Estate on Myrtle, said that
the problem with the strip is that none
of the stores past Fresh Pond Road are
destination shopping.
“I mean, what is the story with a
dentist on every block?” he said.
The strip becomes a ghost town
Above: The long-shuttered Capital Video store at 62-15 Myrtle Ave. in Glendale, just one of many vacant storefronts
on the strip. Inset: A ‘store closing’ sign inside a nearby furniture store on Myrtle Avenue. Photos: Max Parrott/QNS
once all the professional stores close
down for the night, he said. While
Ridgewood is getting flooded with
young professionals who are hungry for
nightlife, foot traffi c doesn’t typically
make it past Fresh Pond because the
businesses don’t cater to them.
“And most of these bars, they’re all old
man bars. I go by at 10 a.m. and there’s
guys already drinking. These aren’t
bars where hipsters come to socialize,”
Todd said.
Todd argued that the problem boils
down to zoning. The entire strip is an
R5 district with, a residential zoning
designation that restricts buildings to
three or four stories and limits the area
of commercial space, preventing many
types of retail and service industries
from being able to take root there.
Bob Kueber, of Coldwell Banker
Kueber Realty, agreed with this
assessment. While he doesn’t think
that the answer to the strip’s problems
is bars and restaurants on every corner,
he did say that the small size of the
buildings is the root of the problem.
“Retail buildings aren’t big enough
to support chains or things like that,”
Kueber said.
He recalled the recent closing of
a Subway store, which was forced
out of business because the building
didn’t have ADA access. When the
owner began the process of putting in
a ramp, he learned that a ramp would
have extended into the sidewalk, and
violated traffi c regulations.
“He couldn’t conform, and he
couldn’t operate without conforming,”
Kueber said.
Dorothy Stepnowska, the owner of
Flower Power Coff ee House who is
leading the eff ort to restore the Glendale
Chamber of Commerce, also represents
the millennial-catering cohort that
Todd suggested might attract more
foot traffi c.
Her business opened as the first
cannabidiol (CBD)-infused coff ee shop
in New York City before the Food and
Drug Administration banned the
addition of the CBD oil to food. Like
many other businesses on the strip,
she closed her shop for several weeks
in the summer to make up for the lull
in customers.
Stepnowska’s hopes for the chamber
hinge on enlisting local electeds to
apply political pressure on behalf of
businesses. She has been talking to
state Senator Joseph Addabbo about
proposing a bill that would cut down on
the tax exemptions landlords receive
while they sit on vacant storefronts.
For a shop like hers, the character of
the strip can make or break her bottom
line. To boost her customer base, she has
had to get creative by organizing events,
like open mics, drag shows, outdoor
movies and even live streaming a talk
show on Instagram that takes place
every Tuesday.
While she admits that the
neighborhood presents a challenge, she
believes that an increase in businesses
like hers is inevitable given the
neighborhood’s demographic trends.
She’s just trying to kickstart the process
by forming a coalition that can support
each other.
“This area is the best area to open now
because the rents are still low. Because
everyone is coming. This is going to
bloom this neighborhood. I tell people
grab a store because if you want to
open a business and you want low
rent, you’re good to go for a few years,”
Stepnowska said.
THE AGONY OF GLENDALE
A roll-down gate covers a former delicatessen at 65-55 Myrtle Ave., adjacent
to a nearby liquor store.
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