..."They cater to the matronly comfort-fashion set. ..." - Glad you said it AJsGal!
Atlas Park is melting in the dark
(61 posts) (20 voices)-
Barbee
Member
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Posted 1 year ago # -
jewels
Member
I remember stores like Jos A Bank and ?Stella Gialla. Black and White Market is in the Queens Center. The Q23 could not get permission from the Glendale Community Board to expand into the area. I used to go to Art World when it was on Austin to frame needlewoRk--but that was before the original owner died. Would have considered the Regal Cinemas if the Q23 had stopped nearby. I also remember a gift store at Atlas.
The new Taco joint near McDonalds is always empty
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Posted 1 year ago # -
TALBOTRESIDENT
Member
While I'll go to dinner and a movie on Austin, I don't think I've shopped on it recently other than B&N. Most of time I wind up parking in the lot so it's no great shakes shopping there. The shopping on Austin isn't low end, but it's not really upscale either Banana Republic, Ann Taylor and Eddie Bauer are the upper end. Ain't no Brooks Brothers or Paul Stuart here. The biggest problem on Austin St is the lack of parking and that limits the stores that it can attract.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
hojo5150
Member
How far do people live from Austin Street that you can't just walk there?
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Posted 1 year ago # -
TALBOTRESIDENT
Member
If you live in KG or RP you might not want to walk. During the day I'll do it myself if I have the time, but usually I don't have the time or the patience at night.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
jewels
Member
TR--Chez Moi and Jacquelines (designer labels) are also high end.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
Depending on the part of FH you live in you might not want to walk there either. I picked my apartment at least in part because of the short walking distance from there to the commercial part of Austin Street in a relatively brief amount of time. I looked at an apartment in Forest Hills South and decided against it at least in part because it seemed to me to be a little too far, knowing myself, to have to walk basically from Union Turnpike to the Continental/Austin Street area to run errands and even perhaps to go to the movies, particularly in the especially hot or cold weather.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
It's certainly not cheap, but if you think Jacklyn's is high-end, you haven't been to the Americana in Manhasset or the Westchester in White Plains.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
jewels
Member
Engelmanns used to be around 78th where Sam Ash is. FH has changed
I have been o Americana and White Plains. They are the LI equivalent to Madison Ave. TR named some "upper end" stores and I just added to his list. A. Store like Stella Gialla would have had customer interest on Austin.
People are interested in "value" oriented shopping now--which is why Rego Center has been so successful in a poor economy.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
TALBOTRESIDENT
Member
I remember when Hirschleifers was in Forest Hills before they decamped for Americana. Austin St was a boutique area, not a place for larger stores or chain stores. The original Beau Brummel was a haberdashery, not a chain store. Women who shopped on that street went to a boutique or a dressmaker. Most women don't shop that way anymore. The area was not designed for large scale retail traffic. Great Neck is very similar and Middle Neck Rd does not draw the shoppers it did 35 years ago. Much of that has gone to Americana.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
Wow, TR, that must have been many decades ago. I grew up not far from the Americana--back when the Hills supermarket, Newberry's, Franklin Simon were there and to my recollection, Hirschleifers was always there. (They're expanding yet again.) Never knew they started out here. Mom would take us to Stride Rite to get our back to school shoes and then to lunch at Charcoal Chef. Ah, the old days...
Wait, I see that there was a Hirschleifers here in FH from 1950 to 1990 and that the overlap with Manhasset was from 1960 to 1990. I didn't move here until after that. Interesting that it was a Hirschleifer who came up with the concept of taking the Americana "high end." http://www.hirshleifers.com/184/forest-hills
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Posted 1 year ago # -
jewels
Member
It was so long ago--I mentioned Engelmann's above --but TR was right--I was really thinking of Hirshleifers. There was also a high end Children's furniture store on Austin--Lewis of London. They relocated to the Upper East Side. On 63rd there was a boutique called Village Set. They moved to the Queens Mall and changed their name to Sam Brown. FayDa was a boutique called Ronnies. The eyeglass store on 63rd and QB was an upper end shoe store which moved to Long Island. Around the corner from the Tower Diner (then a bank) there was a small outpost of Eileens Cheesecake.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
TALBOTRESIDENT
Member
Shayna: Hirschleifers opened in Americana in the late sixties or early seventies. Castagna began gradually upgrading that center in the mid to late 70's. One of our clients was in that center and I remember them opening up there when I was in College and moving them around in the center as they signed leases with higher end operations.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
According to the company website, the son got the idea to upgrade the shopping center in 1960, when he passed by there on the way home from the Forest Hills store one day and then approached Castagna, who then agreed to give the family space on the strip. So they probably opened at the Americana in 1960, or 1961. My family moved to a neighborhood just off Willis Ave, just south of the GCP (Northern State out there, of course) in 1964. We used to go to the movies and shop at the Americana fairly regularly, as it was close by, closer than Roosevelt Field was since Mom didn't like driving the highways. The metamorphasis over there is really astounding.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
TALBOTRESIDENT
Member
Shayna: That's when he moved out there, not when they opened. I remember when the store opened in Manhasset and I can tell you it wasn't 1960, it's maybe within the last 40 some odd years. Sometimes when you're condensing a story, details are blurred. I remember the start to the upgrades in that center and that was the late 70's. I don't doubt that Jack Hirschleifer planted the seed when he signed their first lease with the Castagnas and that he pushed out of self interest. The reason I remember was I was working part time in College and I was sent out there because a client was switching stores in the center and it wasn't the only time they were moved as a more prime tenant was attracted to the center. It was when Brooks Bros moved in that the change was becomming noticeable.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
Oh, TR, I beg to differ with you on that one. It didn't take Brooks Brothers to make the change noticeable. It started happening years before that. They were heading upscale before I went away to college in the late '70's and Hirschleifer's was there years before that, when most of the stores were quite average. I remember seeing the fancy clothes in the window and noticing that they were a lot fancier than all of the other stores and the store seemed so out of place given the other stores that were there.
By the way, the site does not say that the family moved to Long Island in 1960, or even that it was Jack that approached Mr. Castagna. Here's the quote. It says that it was in 1960 that Paul came upon the Americana and that it was he who approached Mr. Castagna. It does not say that Paul or Jack or anyone in the family actually moved in 1960.
"In 1960, after settling with his family on Long Island, Paul would travel to the shop in Forest Hills six days a week. Searching out alternative routes to avoid traffic, he one day found his way onto Northern Boulevard where he came upon a strip mall of moderate priced stores, such as J. Newberry, Porch and Patio, Davida Shoes, and Floyd Bennett. Recognizing the potential viability of a high-end shopping center that could cater to the influx of young wealthy families settling the North Shore Gold Coast community, Paul, one day, stopped at the center to present his idea to its owner, Frank Castagna."
You wanna call the company recitation of its own history "blurred" and "condensed" and your own memories accurate, fine, go ahead.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
TALBOTRESIDENT
Member
As I said before, I remember visiting a client when I was still in College in the late 70's who was being moved around because of what was happening to the center. I was aware of it long before Brooks Brothers came which was about 1982. Getting Brooks Brothers was a big deal then and accelerated the change.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
AnotherKGresident
Member
Went to Atlas Park yesterday evening: lots of people walking around, Borders was packed (but of course a packed store in closing mode is just a sad and sorry thing!), the movie theater had lots of people, as did the restaurants around the theater.
I for one like that the operators of Queens Mall got AP in auction. While Border's closing is not good for them, at least they have experience running malls in the area. And yes, free parking for at least 2 hours would go a long way towards making this mall work.
I like the idea of a food truck festival!
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Posted 1 year ago # -
evets
Member
You're going to need something unique to get people to start shopping at Atlas Park. I really believe the best chance for success is as an outlet mall. There isn't one within 30 or 40 miles. Keep the movie theaters and the restaurants. Maybe add a little fast food (5 Guys, Chipolte). And of course, free parking. Guarantee this would work.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
jewels
Member
This is near the Meadowlands. Not as fancy as Tanger
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Posted 1 year ago # -
rigo parc
Member
Fairway, Fairway or Fairway would be a nice start.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
There are Tanger outlets in Riverhead and Deer Park. They're amateur-night compared to one of the sections of the Chelsea Premium outlets in Central Valley, though. All are under 1 1/2 hours away by car and I think there are buses to at least Riverhead and Central Valley. I don't see the outlet idea working at Atlas Park, since most of the stores in outlet centers (save for the truly high-end Madison Avenue-caliber stores in Central Valley) are outlet versions of stores that are at Queens Center, Rego Center and Austin Street and it seems unlikely that the parent companies would want to cannibalize already-existing local branches of their own stores.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
Fairway would get me to Atlas Park. But though their corporate strategy has leaned heavily toward expansion since the founding family largely sold out to an investment firm a few years ago, that's been happening slowly and the stores aren't too close together, yet. After a delay of over a year, they are opening a branch in Douglaston (Douglaston Pkwy exit of the LIE, not far from the Cross Island, either), purportedly in November. My sister lives about 5 minutes from there and finally, the other day, saw trailer trucks in the parking lot and display stands and the like being unloaded. Unfortunately, I think that Atlas Park would be too close to Douglaston at this point in the way the company seems to be rolling out stores.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
Karrde925
Member
The only reason I used to go to Atlas was because I had a NYSC membership and that branch was waaaay cleaner than the austin st. one. I used to bike there which was great because I didn't need to worry about parking. I can't imagine many people being thrilled with spending money on a monthly membership to the gym and then paying more for parking on top of that. Talk about killing your motivation to go.
I really liked the outdoor space, I could buy a book at borders and then sit on one of the benches and read for a bit in the nice weather. Very peaceful, but enough people walking around where it wasn't completely desolate during a weekday.
I also recall seeing a sculptor there carving stone benches and I remember getting really excited thinking that the park would get more outdoor art in this respect. Does anyone know if they continued creating those benches? or is it just the one when you first walk in across from borders?
I totally agree with whoever said they should put a Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn in there.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
jewels
Member
Pottery Barn will soon open in ReGo Center next to Dallas BBQ. The empty Annie Sez would be a better fit for Crate and Barrel. Fairway just opened a new store on East 86th Street and there are crowds from dawn to dusk
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
Frankly, with the dearth of those types of places around here, Fairway, Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn would all be fine. Now that Pottery Barn has pulled out of Roosevelt Field, the only Pottery Barn on LI, I believe, is at the Walt Whitman Mall. The closest one to here is the one near Bloomingdale's in Manhattan.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
It's Pier 1 that's going into the Rego Center, not Pottery Barn.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
jewels
Member
Yes you are right--i get them mixed up. Actually I am thinking a Pottery Barn/Williams Sonoma combination would be great.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
rigo parc
Member
Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn do not open stores in this kind of location. The only way to attract people to a bad location is by offering something unique.
Atlas Park will continue to die a slow death unless the new owners get very creative. Another Banana Republic or Ann Taylor store is nothing special to make someone drive to Glendale.
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Posted 1 year ago # -
ShaynaMadel
Member
rigo parc, I was just wishing and dreaming. I would be shocked if any of those stores would consider Atlas Park.
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Posted 1 year ago #
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