Gentrification, I think I Love you...maybe
Costco. BJ's Warehouse. Home Depot. Best Buy. Bobs Discount Furniture.
What do all of these stores have in common? Until recently, none of them was in New York City. Times have changed.
BJ's opened in Flushing this past weekend. Costco opened this fall on the Upper East Side. Home Depot has already been in Chelsea for years And I'm not quite sure what to think about it.
When I was in High School, walking in the West 80's along Broadway was a exercise in dodging hookers and bums. (This was in the olden days, before the PC moniker "Homeless People" was invented.)Today, walking on Broadway's Upper West Side is an exercise in dodging baby strollers and fresh produce carts on the corner.
Gentrification, I love you.
Back in the ancient days (when I was in High School), walking around on the Upper West Side meant browsing in stores like Liberty House, where a teenager could find a reasonably priced pair of earrings, and a therapist (they're all on the upper west side) could buy the sort of flowy afgahn thing only therapists wear. Now, you can go to the Gap. Where, I ask, are the therapists shopping now?
Gone is that quintessential NY Bakery, Grossingers, and their oddly delicious ice-cream/coffee cake. Gone, too, is that seeming fixture of the neighborhood,Morris Brothers, where many an upper west side kid bought the name tags that got sewn into everything he brought to camp.
What's there now? Coach. Godiva. A Barnes and Noble Mega-Store. We've got Staples, Victoria's Secret, and A Children's Place. When did my neighborhood turn into a suburban shopping mall?
Gentrification. I don't love you so much any more.
Part of what I've always loved about New York is that it isn't like anywhere else. Smalltown USA doesn't have transvestites, senior citizens, and families living next door to each other as a matter of course. You can't find Ukrainian food at 2am, or a book reading to go to any night of the week (for free!), or find yourself sitting next to a movie star at the movies on a Tuesday night. (Kevin Bacon, the six degrees between us have dissolved to NONE!) I love that "Italian Food" is not synonymous with Olive Garden, that there are more museums than you could ever visit, that more languages are spoken in New York City (heck, probably just in Queens) than just about any other place in the world.
That's why, while I'm glad I can walk along Broadway without having to explain to my kids why that lady in the doorway is wearing only a bra and a mini-skirt (my mother told me she must just be very warm, and anyway it was a bikini.) I'm a little upset at what it's cost us.
But then there's that list of stores at the top of this post. And the truth is, while I could live my whole life quite happily without ever stepping foot inside of a Victoria's Secret, never getting to go to Target or BJ's, well, that would really bum me out.
I love the Big Box stores. I love the way Target makes good design affordable. I love how BJs saves me money on the basics I need, in sizes that can fit into my apartment. (Full disclosure, I recently attended a blogger event hosted by BJ's where they fed me and sent me home with a basket of goodies. Try their house-brand Pineapple Upsidedown Cake. Delicious.)
I love the convenience of those stores. I love being able to go to,say, BJ's and get a cheese platter for a party, a vat of Tide for a song, a pair of sweatpants, a diamond necklace, and a TV. Talk about one-stop shopping. You just can't do that in Zabars.
So I guess it's OK to trade a bit of character, for a bit of ease. Maybe we NY'ers are too obsessed with our otherness. The rest of the country may be onto something: big stores mean big convenience, and savings, plus it’s fun to shop in a mammoth warehouse.
So bring on the BJ's. Because as long as The Town Shop stays open, Zabars sells smoked salmon and Barney Greengrass throws plates of eggs at me with a surly stare, it’ll still be NY. And I’ll still be home.
Original Post to NYC Moms Blog.
Nancy Friedman writes and rants at From Hip To Housewife.
