July 30, 2006
Chased!
First, Rectangles closed and becomes a North Fork Branch, now this. The Post gets the props for being the first to break that the former Second Avenue Deli is going to be filled by another Chase bank branch. Earlier in the month the Villager ran with the story that the Deli was going to be filled by dental-chain Vital Dent and a food space. But that contract wasn't signed then, and we guess it fell through. This deal sounds better for the landlord at least. Now instead of splitting into two spaces, it looks like Chase is going to fill up the entire Deli space and the newsstand next door. Though the Post reports the contract was signed on Wednesday, they don't mention if the bank will be paying the $33,000 monthly rent that "forced" the Deli out. We suspect they will.
But we wonder how many locations Chase needs in such a small area. There are now as many Chase locations within spitting distance of Astor place as there used to be Gaps - and we all saw how that worked out. And that's not even including all the Chase ATMs in Duane Reede...
Minivan taxi in front of the former Second Avenue Deli by Triborough via Contribute.
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Isn't a Chase also moving in over on Third Ave where they tore down two (or was is three?) nice old brick buildings earlier this year? Pehaps it is some other branch, but same fucking difference. I can't wait until the only businesses that can afford rents in NYC are banks, pharmacies, starbucks, and dunkin donuts; one hell of a city it will be!
There was an article in the Times yesterday about a Gristede's in Manhattan closing because they weren't making enough to cover the rent and make enough of a profit. Someone said that they wouldn't be surprised if half the supermarkets in Manhattan were gone in 10 years' time.
Because, y'know, people don't need to buy food, or anything. What a city this is turning into.
Chase can have as many branches as they like, they're still crap and have no concept of security (try this: get a card from the branch to change your security code and use it to access anyone's account--hilarious!)
When I called to close my Chase accounts & credit card and we were all done, they actually offered me the ability to transfer money off my credit card into the account. HELLO? What did we just do??