Out with the old, in with the new
This convenience store - it's not even a bodega, all it had were snacks and drinks and magazines and newspapers, and I believe coffee, and at one point, ice cream sodas - is no longer with us. Standing at the corner of Norman and Manhattan, it's reached the end of its useful life. Of course, it could be a case that the owner passed away and no one in the family wants the store, but more likely, a victim of rising rents.
On the other hand, "victim" is a pretty subjective term. Was this store serving the needs of the neighborhood? It did stay open relatively late, given its proximity to the Norman St. exit of the Nassau G stop, but there's a plethora of these stores in Greenpoint and this one had huge square footage to deal with. I'm sure they just didn't have the volume any more.
Almost just across the street from this shop, a 99 cent store is going out of business. I keep trying to get a shot of the storefront, covered in large signs in English and Polish, advising that everything was half-off, but haven't gotten it yet. It'll probably be closed by the time I manage to make that happen (which is how I'm starting to feel about a lot of things in the neighborhood).
I'm excited for the opportunity for new commerce, but I don't want to see more of this kind of thing. I'd love to see the business plan that provided the data that people in this neighborhood are going to pay $10 for a bowl of soup. The Blimpie's that was open for about all of five minutes was in the same stretch as this shop above and the 99 cent store. We don't need more chains, local or national.