In the coming weeks and months, we hope to bring you brief interviews of merchants along Park Slope's Fifth Avenue. After all, who knows All About Fifth like the store, restaurant and bar owners along the the avenue?
Our first interview: Irene LoRe, Owner of Aunt Suzie's Restaurant and Executive Director of the new Park Slope Fifth Avenue Business Improvement District.
As a merchant what do you appreciate about Fifth Avenue?
I appreciate the fact that Fifth Avenue is mostly small, mom and pop businesses. It has quaint shops that have both character and personality. Big box stores, like those generally found outside the city, have no charm or uniqueness. They're nationally envisioned and don't reflect the local community. I have been in business on 5th for over 20 years and feel that we are an integral part of the neighborhood.
As a merchant how would you like to see Fifth Avenue improved?
Unfortunately the vacancy rate is going up and that is never good for a commercial strip. I would like to see more unique and fun retail shops open on 5th. In terms of stores, I would like to see a bookstore on Fifth Avenue. I think it would do well and would be a great addition to the avenue. It would also be great to have a municipal lot here. I think that would bring more customers to the area. Local bus transportation is slow and erratic. A bus that looped around Fifth Avenue and Seventh Avenue from Flatbush to Eighteenth Street would go along way in making the neighborhood easier to get around.
What are the biggest challenges facing a Fifth Avenue business?
Staying alive (laughs). Frequently reinventing yourself is the only way to stay in business. You have to face what comes straight on and find ways to push back at a bad economy.
I love that bus idea.
ReplyDeleteA municipal lot on 5th avenue? Are you kidding me?
ReplyDeleteIrene Lo is the same person who wants the bike lane eliminated, but has a sign in her store window offering free air to cyclists. What a hypocrite.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.streetsblog.org/2009/09/11/what-happens-when-mom-and-pop-shops-depend-on-cars/
ReplyDeleteI, for one, am boycotting her restaurant because of her anti-bike-lane, anti-safety, pro-more-and-more-cars-on-our-streets positions.
ReplyDeleteA "municipal lot"?! Are you kidding me? That would destroy the very things she likes about the area. Irene, you continue to not get it.
ReplyDeleteA municipal parking lot on 5th Ave.? This woman is an idiot. Why doesn't she just pick up and move to the suburbs? Then she would learn just how foot traffic makes up around 95 percet of the customer base for her not-very-good restaurant.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the last poster. Her restaurant sucks!!
ReplyDeleteThe loop is a great idea -- but make it a trolley instead of a bus. This would draw big crowds to Park Slope's business districts.
ReplyDeleteRespectfully, Ms. LoRe, you DON'T want a parking lot.
ReplyDeleteThink about who comes to your restaurant. How many of them drive?! Actual studies have shown that New York City businesses are patronized significantly more by pedestrians, rather than customers who arrive by car.
Other studies show that more parking creates more congestion.
And yet other studies show that more congestion equals less business!
Trust me, you DON'T want a parking lot anywhere in your neighborhood! Good luck.
I grew up in Park Slope and My family used to go frequent Aunt Suzie's all of the time. We used to all be signed up for their birthday dinner thing and I still go on occasion as I live near by. However with her opposition to the Bike lane and apparent desire for a parking lot I too will no longer eat at her establishment. She is fighting for things that won't help her business or the community. The bus idea isn't bad though.
ReplyDeleteMamma Leone left a note on the door..it said, "Sonny, move out to the suburbs." Well, don't bother...the suburbs are coming to you
ReplyDeleteThe woman has one bad idea about a parking lot. Is that a reason to boycott her restaurant? I don't see her forming a community group to convince the government to use eminent domain to tear down her competition and build a lot. It was just an idea, like the good bus loop idea that will also never happen. And why does everyone say she is anti-bike? She didn't mention bikes at all.
ReplyDeleteIt's not mentioned in this interview, but she is separately spearheading an asinine movement to get rid of the 5th Avenue bike lane. That's why people here are pissed at her.
ReplyDeleteAlex B., Please use this link to see Irene Lo's anti bike stance; http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/09/11/what-happens-when-mom-and-pop-shops-depend-on-cars/
ReplyDelete