A Peek Inside Trek

Thanks to Shelley for sending in these photos tonight of the inside of the new bike shop opening soon on 70th Road.

New Bike Shop Coming to Forest Hills

I noticed this sleek-looking new bike shop, Trek, is opening on Restaurant Row (70th Road) in Forest Hills, right next to the medical marijuana shop. Imagine that! Something other than a new bank, barbershop or teeny little and curiously-unnecessary mom and pop drugstore is opening here! It is a cause for celebration indeed.

Activity at Austin Street Corner

I'm just hearing the normal rumors and seeing the usual activity that makes me surmise there could be some big changes coming to the corner of 71st Road and Austin Street. Big sales, adjacent stores closing, rumors flying. Send your tips to edgeofthecity@gmail.com

Forest Hills Construction Site Pics

Snapped a couple of pics today of the demolition of what was the Party Store, Piu Bello and several smaller stores, across from MacDonald Park and the Post Office. See my previous post about the new building going up in this space.

Work Begins On New Forest Hills Building

I noticed they have begun doing work on the site of this future development across from MacDonald Park. Last I heard it is supposed to be an office building with some retail space as well, and parking.

New Store Opening On Austin Street

A Pandora jewelry is coming to the spot formerly occupied by the Diva NY clothing store on Austin Street, next to GNC.

Last Chance for New York & Company?

... apparently. I had seen somewhere online speculation that the Austin Street store was closing. A friend of mine sent in these photos and it sure looks like it. If so, that would open up quite a big prime space along Austin Street...

What's Happening on Austin Street: Jacklyn's—A Local Favorite for Nearly 40 Years

"What's Happening on Austin Street" is an ongoing series looking at the many different businesses along Forest Hills' major shopping strip. Have a business you'd like us to profile? Email edgeofthecity@gmail.com

A Jacklyn’s of All Trades

By Rebecca Banchik

There's something missing from the shopping experience at a big box retailer. Don't get me wrong, it's convenient to run into Bloomingdales or Macy's and choose from all the brands and styles. But by shopping at these stores you’re not supporting a local business and you're certainly not going to get the experience of being in a small shop. 

When I first moved to Forest Hills I was happy {almost relieved} that some of the chain stores were around for me to shop in and were easily accessible. But without going into Manhattan or out to Long Island, there's really only one store in Forest Hills to get the brand name designers you find in bigger stores. It's particularly exciting for me, a sucker for expensive denim {with stretch - definitely need stretch}, to have Jacklyn's Boutique in our neighborhood. They carry my favorite brands like Seven For All Mankind, J Brand, Joie, and Eileen Fisher, just to name a few. 

I spoke with the owner of the store’s daughter, Nicole Soleimani, who explained to me that the store originally opened almost 40 years ago by Jack who was inspired to open the store by his sister Jacklyn {ring a bell?} who had a love for designing clothes. Jack eventually turned the store over to Robbin who now fully runs the boutique. 

Nicole described her experience growing up around Austin Street in Forest Hills as an upscale neighborhood that has changed drastically over the years. She mentioned that when the big boys came into town many small businesses suffered. Lucky for her as a shop owner, and for us as residents, Austin Street is thriving now and Jacklyn’s is perfectly located near the Shake Shack and Bare Burger. My advice to you though? Try on the clothes before you eat the burgers!

It was a pleasure recently stopping by the store and getting to know Robbin. The store was welcoming, door wide open, beckoning the Austin Street walkers-by to stop in for a look. 

Robbin is extremely knowledgeable and is ready to help you pick out a new outfit or accessorize you for your next event. She attributed much of her long lasting success to her faithful and steady clientele, some of whom have been shopping at Jacklyn's for 30 years. She even has some loyal customers that come from Manhattan to get dressed and buy head to toe outfits at our Forest Hills gem. 

Robbin explained that she is not running the store hoping to churn business in a revolving-door fashion and have fleeting customers only looking out for the next big sale. She's providing high quality, designer pieces to the women of Forest Hills with the assurance that the products she sells are good, tried, and true. She stands by the quality of the designers she carries. 

The store combines a small town hospitality vibe with the sought after city trendiness New Yorkers crave. While times have certainly changed, and Robbin no longer knows every person that walks through the door {she described a time when that was the case}, there's no doubt that Jacklyn's remains a neighborhood standard. 

Stop by the boutique and say hello to the friendly staff, try on a new blouse, peruse the racks, check out the shoe collection, and maybe pick up a little something for a gift {or treat yourself}. I certainly have my eyes on a pair of earrings and some jeans. Robbin will be seeing me soon for some retail therapy. Maybe I’ll see you there too, ready to look fabulous in Forest Hills.

Location:
Jacklyn’s Boutique
71-50 Austin St, Forest Hills

New Gift Shop Opening on Austin?

Thanks to Greg for the photo. He emailed that a worker says this will be some kind of gift shop. I couldn't find any information about it online...

Radio Shack Signals

More About the Planned Forest Hills Target Store

New Store, Big City: Target to Open in Queens, N.Y., in 2016 

The bright lights, the crowds, the hustle and bustle. When you make your home in the big city, convenience is key. So driving long distances to do your shopping, and loading up on economy-size packs that won’t fit through your apartment door? Not always an option. Target is all about bringing convenience, value and great design closer to home—and since we go where our guests go, we’re customizing each new store to ensure a locally-relevant experience, complete with assortments and shopping solutions that best fit the surrounding neighborhood’s needs. We’re excited to announce our newest flexible format store opening in Forest Hills, Queens, N.Y., in July 2016.

A two-level, 21,000-square-foot space, the Queens Target store will be located near a Long Island Railroad transit stop, easily accessible on foot or by car. It’ll be a quick stop for locals to find pharmacy, fresh grocery with grab-and-go food options, basic apparel (think tees, tanks and C9 active wear for men and women), health and beauty necessities, tech accessories, tablets, mobile phones and more. We’ll stock it with a tailored assortment that caters to city dwellers, including home products perfect for single family homes and condos. And to make each shopping trip as quick and easy as possible, we’ll offer easy fulfillment options like Store Pickup, so guests can place an order online and pick it up at the store for free.

The Queens location is one of two Target stores coming to the Big Apple in 2016. Across the city, we’re designing our 100,000+-square-foot Fulton Street store to cater to residents and students in downtown Brooklyn’s Albee Square, and visitors coming from the nearby DeKalb Avenue subway station. It’ll be stocked with grab-and-go food options, innovative mobile solutions and lots more based on what local guests told us they want most.



It’s all part of our urban growth strategy to reach guests in new places with the right mix of products and shopping experiences—creating more opportunities for guests to shop how, where and when they want. How’s that for convenience?

Huge News! Target to Replace Barnes & Noble in Forest Hills!

The Daily News broke the story today:

Express Target will replace Barnes & Noble in Forest Hills

Barnes & Noble out. Target in.
A new Target store is slated to take over the space formerly occupied by Barnes & Noble at 7000 Austin St., in Forest Hills, the Daily News has learned. The store will be the first flexible-sized location in Queens for Target, which has recently been offering more compact shopping experiences for city-dwellers.
Target inked a deal for a 15-year, 20,795-square-foot lease and is slated to open at the propery in mid-2016.

Benneton No More

For the headline to this post, I was trying to think of one of those odd, erroneous phrases Benneton used to put on its t-shirts back in the eighties/nineties, like "Benneton: Yes, Why?" and such. Do they still do that? Anyway, I guess I have even less of a chance of finding out considering one of its few remaining stores—located where else, but here in time-warped Forest Hills—recently closed on Austin, or transitioned to become something called "Original Marines."
Thanks to Gladys for sending in the pic!
You can just make out the new name and logo if you look closely...

Inside Former Laytner's Space

Thanks to Susan for sending this photo to me on the Blog's Facebook Page. The mystery is apparently solved. As anyone who has been reading this blog for a long time knows, I like to reserve judgement on things until I have all the facts. And I still don't. Just this pic and tips from readers that I included in the last post. Needless to say, my policy for this Blog stands. If I don't personally approve of a local business, if I feel it is a step in the wrong direction for our neighborhood, I simply cease covering them on this Blog. I personally never badmouth a business whose proprietors are struggling to make a go of things. Life is already too difficult for all of us and I will never do that. I think we all, as residents of Forest Hills, know what we want to open here, and what we don't. So I let things just take care of themselves, with my only assist being plenty of coverage for businesses I love in Forest Hills.

Strawberry on Austin Closing

 Yes, that mammoth, two-level store on Austin St. will be vacated soon... Prime retail location opening up! (And this might be the first and last time I write anything about Strawberry, whatever it is, was..etc...)

Hospital Conversion and New Clothing Store for Austin

A couple of other local developments readers have contacted me about over the past several days...
The former Parkway Hospital, which has been abandoned for the past six years, is being turned into condos. You can read more about it here: Former Parkway Hospital will be converted to condos
And the children's clothing store on Austin near Benetton that closed a couple of months ago is becoming another clothing store called Steps New York, this time a women's clothing store, a chain that is affiliated with Kara New York and located in malls, one reader tells me.

A Combo on Austin?

An observant reader sent in this pic leaving us wondering if the former Pasta Del Giorno space and the Second Time Around space next to it are being combined into one super-big space for... what, we have no idea. It's quite amazing that we haven't heard a peep yet about what this prime retail space on Austin Street may be about to become. Someone out there must know, and my email box is open and waiting at edgeofthecity@gmail.com.

Update: I found the job record for this site and as the commenter below said, it does indeed say they will be building an Urgent Care Center at this prime shopping location (believe it or not). 

Men's Wearhouse Renews Lease

--Fashion retailer renews lease at vibrant mixed-use property in Forest Hills--

A long-time staple at Muss Development LLC’s popular 7000 Austin Street property, fashion retailer Men’s Wearhouse has signed a long-term renewal to remain in its 6,300-square-foot space.

Other tenants at the 100 percent occupied property include retailers Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, Eddie Bauer, and T.G.I. Friday’s. In addition, two new office tenants went into occupancy in the building last year, adding to the expanding traffic and vitality of Forest Hills, with the influx of approximately 50new employees.

Allen Health Care, which provides placement and training services for healthcare professionals, occupies 16,215 on the second floor on a ten-year lease, while Bilinguals Inc., a provider of English and bilingual evaluations and therapeutic and education services to children, leased 15,390 square feet for 12 years.

“Forest Hills is one of the most popular neighborhoods in Queens, and our mixed-use property at 7000 Austin Street continues to attract and retain a diversity of office and retail tenants that serve the community,” said Muss Development Principal Jason Muss.

Muss was represented in-house by Stan Markowitz in the transaction. Doug Weinstein, of Ripco, represented the tenant.

Located one block south of Queens Boulevard, 7000 Austin Street is located along one of the busiest retail corridors in Queens and an easy walk to the E, F, M, and R subways, the Long Island Railroad, and express buses. The property also features parking for 300 vehicles.

The Austin Street neighborhood has also seen an overall uptick in activity, including the arrival of new restaurants, cafés, and local businesses, and a new major luxury condominium tower on Queens Boulevard, which is under construction

About Muss Development

With more than 100 years of ongoing business excellence in New York City, Muss Development is the largest development company in the Boroughs of New York City, with more than 10 million square feet of commercial, residential, industrial and retail property developed.  For more information, visit www.muss.com. 

 

Ann Taylor Factory Store

The sign has gone up on their new Austin St. location. For those not aware, this is where the former Ann Taylor used to be, on Austin near the corner of 71st/Continental. As I recently told someone on Twitter, apparently Forest Hills is about to be overrun by ladies named Ann Taylor. I wonder how long it takes them to make one? While, I'm on the topic, what exactly would I do with a lady named Ann Taylor? Do they specialize in anything in particular? How much do they go for? Help me out here...

Boutique for Children on Austin Closing

This kids' clothing store, Boutique for Children, says it is closing.
This opens up another prime spot on Austin St.