Empty Storefronts in Manhattan

A few weeks ago, I passed my favorite salad bar/deli in the neighborhood where I work and was stunned to find it closed. I'd been going to Green Pea at 38th Street and Fifth Avenue, even when I was working ten blocks north 15 years ago and more, since Green Pea is situated about halfway between my last workplace and my current one. I never took a picture of it when it was open. This is how it looks now:

Not only did they make good hot lunches, but the place was open late so I could stop there after work to pick up snacks whenever I was headed to the movies or off on long walks in Central Park. Where am I gonna go now?


I've noticed more empty storefronts along Fifth Avenue and throughout Manhattan since 2008 than at any time in my history in Manhattan. Circuit City at 43rd Street and Fifth was the first I took pictures of:

The store was on the same block as a Best Buy, which is still open, so it's not surprising that it closed. The site has since been taken over by an Urban Outfitter.

Empty storefronts are especially sad when the place that is empty was a store that I patronized, even if infrequently. The Borders bookstore on Second Avenue, next to the Kips Bay Multiplex at 32nd Street, closed at some point within the last couple of years and I took these pictures then:

The last time I  bought anything there was in 2009.

On a recent trip to Union Square, I went looking for a place to eat and remembered the diner on University Place and 12th street. I got there and this is what I found:

And here's what it looked like on the inside:

I never went inside the Hello Kitty store on E. 33rd Street, but I passed it many times. I never took a picture when it was open. Here's what it looked like the last time I passed it:

Finally, I managed to catch the great comic book shop, Jim Hanley's Universe, on 33rd Street, just west of Fifth Avenue, before it closed and get some shots from the inside, thanks to a sympathetic staff:

Here's what it looked like a few days later:

And here's what the store looks like in its new location:

So, the good news is that Jim Hanley's was reborn somewhere else, unlike Borders, Circuit City, Green Pea, and University Restaurant. The bad news is that it's smaller and no longer so conveniently placed along my normal commuting route.