The New Yorker: Why are there so many shuttered storefronts in the West Village?

[LiberalElite]

http://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/why-are-there-so-many-shuttered-storefronts-in-the-west-village

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At the end of this month, the House of Cards & Curiosities, on Eighth Avenue, just south of Jane Street, in the West Village, will close its doors after more than twenty years in business. It was, admittedly, not a store whose economic logic was readily apparent. Along with artistic greeting cards, it sold things like small animal skeletons, stuffed piranhas (which were hanging from the ceiling), and tiny ceramic skulls. Nonetheless, it did good business for many years, or so its owner, James Waits, told me. Its closing leaves four shuttered storefronts on just one block. With their papered-up windows and fading paint, the failed businesses are a depressing sight in an otherwise vibrant neighborhood. Each represents a broken dream of one kind or another.
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[MADem]

1. Great article--the city is getting too rich for a lot of people's blood! nt

[MannyGoldstein]

2. East Village, too

East Eigth Street is a ghost town.

Gray's Papaya closing hit me hard, I loved that place, loved it.