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• I am sure that you are being facetious when you say that there are “something like three of them within a one-block radius of the old Rockaway bedding.” To the best of my knowledge, the nearest pharmacy to the building in question, on the north side of QB, is the one almost directly across from Continental Avenue. I can’t even think of how close the nearest one to the east is. Knowing them as I do, I can tell you that the residents of the building will be the first to give an earful to Cord Meyer if the store craps up its windows and since two of their senior employees sit on the Board of the co-op, they can’t duck calls and complaints for long. Cord Meyer’s corporate offices are in the building, so hopefully they will take some pride in what things look like there. It’s my understanding that there were potential deals with one or more financial-services businesses, but they (obviously) did not come to fruition. And the black book prohibits food-based businesses from occupying the space. Given that that block is not a commercial hub, I cannot think of too many types of businesses that would/could successfully occupy the space. All of that said, it would/will be a shame to lose Rite-Aid, as it is so much more than “just” a pharmacy.

  Posted by ShaynaMadel
  on April 25th, 2008 at 12:39 am

• Im laughing now. The fact is the type of location which would have made a best fit over there would have been a bank branch since all the banks are further down by 71st. I always wondered why a bank branch never made its way on that side as a satellite office extension.

  A drug store/surgical supply place is lame and nuts over there.

  Posted by Joe Example
  on April 25th, 2008 at 1:48 am

• Don’t exactly know why you are laughing, Joe. There was a bank there years ago. And if you know anything about Cord Meyer, if they could get that kind of tenant, they would. In fact, they tried and it didn’t happen. There are several doctors’ offices on the ground and first floors of the same building and in the high-rise buildings on either side of it. I am not pleased at the prospect of a tacky-looking storefront, but don’t see a pharmacy as a 100% bad fit, either.

  Posted by ShaynaMadel
  on April 25th, 2008 at 8:21 am

• Is Rite Aid closing because they are going out of business? I really rely on that store being there as , I assume, many others. There is not another store like it until Continental Ave or the other way towards Union Tpk.

  Posted by jkny321
  on April 25th, 2008 at 11:04 am

• I really hope they don’t close that Rite Aid. I agree that would be a horrible development for that area of Forest Hills. That Rite Aid is in a perfect location and seems to do good business. If it closes down, I would hope that they at least replace it with another similar pharmacy, such as CVS. As far as a surgical supply store going up across the street - I agree with Steve that would be a useless addition. I would much prefer to see anything else go up in that spot (even a bank). There are no banks/ATMs for a number of blocks in either direction. I would rather see a bank there, than on Bank Row near the corner of Austin St. and Continental…

  Posted by peter33
  on April 25th, 2008 at 11:13 am

• Okay, here’s the thread where someone mentioned the First Med situation. They didn’t offer any detail, therefore I don’t know the basis of that story. http://www.queenscentral.com/f.....php?id=748

  Don’t get me wrong, I will be sorry to see Rite-Aid go, if they do, as they are really much more than a pharmacy, but I don’t get the vehemence against a pharmacy/surgical supply place on the north side of the boulevard, so long as the place is kept nice and doesn’t have tacky windows. If there’s no business for them here, they’ll disappear soon enough.

  Posted by ShaynaMadel
  on April 25th, 2008 at 1:50 pm

• I made the comment about Rite-Aid.

  It was told to me by a neighbor and this neighbor has told me things in the past that were correct as well. Plus when you see a pharmacy type place opening directly across the street, it made sense. I have not gone into Rite-Aid and asked the manager to confirm. I guess we will wait and see.

  I personally don’t understand the love affair with Rite-Aid. The pharmacists are great but their stock of drugs is subpar. Plus the shelves are half empty most of the time.

  Posted by davidk2345
  on April 25th, 2008 at 4:04 pm

• According to public records, the 1994 lease signed by Genovese (who sold out to Eckerd, who sold out to Rite-Aid) does not run out until 2014, with 2 additional 5-year options. I wonder why they’re bailing so early, especially since the lease was signed when the market was still pretty weak. Hmmm.

  Posted by ShaynaMadel
  on April 25th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

• FYI, earlier this year Jackson Heights lost its nice Duane Reade on 82nd St but kept its two sub-par RiteAids. The old Duane Reade space became a huge 99 cent-type store called ABC Discount. The reason Duane Reade gave for closing was that rents became too high. But with a lease that’s good for several more years (if that’s the case here in FH) that wouldn’t seem to be the reason.

  Posted by anon
  on April 25th, 2008 at 6:17 pm

• As is sometimes done, one of the parties to the lease elected to record with the NYC Register a “memorandum of lease,” which contains the information regarding the length of the lease and of the options. The info is available for public viewing online. Maybe there’s something else going on, but it does seem unlikely that it’s skyrocketing rent.

  Posted by ShaynaMadel
  on April 25th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

• I spoke to the RiteAid manager tonight and he knew nothing about it. Hopefully this was just a false rumor….

  Posted by peter33
  on April 26th, 2008 at 9:41 pm

• That location really does need a BANK! Its the best fit.

  With that being said, Forest Hills is just a replication of shoddy stores over and over again. The good stuff never goes to Forest Hills.

  Posted by Joe Morris
  on April 27th, 2008 at 12:43 am

• All of this makes me really sad. I’ve just moved into the co-op on top of this store and had wild hopes for something fun, interesting or at the very least useful taking over that HUGE abandoned store space.

  Posted by Hopeless
  on April 28th, 2008 at 4:10 pm

• There used to be more interesting stores in Forest Hills. They got chased out by the ever-increasing rents.

  Posted by flocat
  on April 29th, 2008 at 11:54 am

• There was a bank in that location for a long time. Chemical merged that branch with the one on Continental years ago. As we had done personal and business banking in that branch for a number of years I remember it as a very quiet branch which is why they closed it. If a bank were to open a smaller savings bank might be more appropriate, a commercial bank which relies on business banking would likely pass. If Cord Meyer could have gotten a bank for that spot they would have. As a matter of fact the reason they even had the branch in that building was their relationship with Chemical at the time. Because of my father’s business relationship with the branch at that time we friendly with the Branch Mgt and the Regional VP who maintained his office there and they intimated at the time it was why there was a branch there.

  Posted by Talbotresident
  on April 29th, 2008 at 5:11 pm

• Walked by it this morning and it seems to be shaping up into something. Saw some boxes of normal-ish drug store goods being stacked into shelves. It doesn’t quite look as depressing as I imagined. Yet.

  Posted by Hopeless
  on May 13th, 2008 at 11:09 am

• The windows are substantially obscured by large posters in the windows, such that one can’t really see into the store. This beats having to look at messy, chaotic shelves once the place opens. And it sure beats the tacky curtains that the dry cleaner a few doors down hangs in their window every night.

  Posted by Hoping
  on May 13th, 2008 at 11:49 am

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