Out With the Old, In With the New

Two local businesses have recently shut their doors. Urban Spring, the tasty but pricy all-natural smoothie and snack joint on DeKalb near the park is no more (via The Local).  Their smoothies were tasty and I really respected their environmental friendliness (cups made out of corn), but man was it expensive!  I only ever went a handful of times, because I could just never really justify buying a small juice for $6.  (A commenter suggests hitting up Karrot on Myrtle near Clinton for a still-not-cheap-but-more-affordable organic juice.)

Up on Myrtle, the well-loved Cafe Martino has shut its doors (via Brownstoner).  I heard mostly lovely things about them over the years, but also that the owners were a bit disorganized.  I'm sure they'll be missed.

Is it The Economy?  Or just the regular business cycle in the big city?  I'm fond of the phrase, "The only thing constant is change."

In more positive news, three new businesses are slated to open on Myrtle (via Myrtle Minutes):

Green In Bklyn (432 Myrtle) is a one-stop green home goods store opening on Earth Day, April 22nd. The store, according to its owner, Ellisa Olin will provide eco-friendly solutions for daily living. Products available will be everything from light bulbs to cleaning supplies to bed linens to recycled paper towels to baby diapers and baby bottles—all eco-friendly, of course. Ellisa has a long work history as a performing artist and caterer. Green living has long been an important part of her life and she is looking forward to sharing that passion with the neighborhood. Ellisa lives on the border of Bed-Stuy and Clinton Hill and is excited that she can walk to work and “loves the opportunity to make a difference where I live.” Ellisa’s business plan for Green In Bklyn was a top winner in the 2008 Brooklyn Public Library’s Power Up Business Plan Competition. [Ed. I'm pretty excited about this, both for the plethora of offerings and the fact that Ellisa is a local.  Also cool that another Power Up winner has chosen to open a business in the neighborhood.  Last year's winner, Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, has been working on opening an indie book store in Fort Greene.) Health First Medical Supply (322 Myrtle Avenue) is the business endeavor of owners – fiancés, Emmanuel Alada and Denise Hudson. Having worked in the medical supply business for 7 years prior, Emmanuel began to learn and love the business and thought, why not bring such a business to his own neighborhood. Health First Medical provides home medical equipment: power and manual wheelchairs, hospital beds, bathroom safety equipment and diabetic products, amongst other offerings. Though they are awaiting additional inventory, they are officially open for business. Walk-ins are welcome. They can be reached at 718.596.6204.

Metro PCS (518 Myrtle Avenue) is a new cellular phone business, next door to Blockbuster and the post office. According to a Crain's NY article published two weeks ago, Dallas-based Metro PCS Communications Inc. was "the surprise winner in a 2006 auction of $3.6 billion worth of licenses covering the New York area." The company’s network covers 10 million customers in the New York metropolitan area, including the five boroughs and portions of Bergen, Hudson, Union and Essex counties in New Jersey. Though we have tried to reach out to the owners, including calls to the company’s Dallas-based headquarters, the only update comes from someone waiting inside the store for a delivery a week or two ago, “we thought we would be open by now; we are expecting to have our doors open possibly any day now.”