Signing Off: In Memory of Those That Didn't Make It to December

By Mitch Broder

Among the obsessions of Vintage New York are the city's departed businesses that seem to have hastened their departure with the names they gave themselves.

So while others take the easy route of frequenting stores that are open, I stand alone outside the ones that are closed and ruminate on their signs.

"Nail One," for example, may be a popular goal, but maybe not the most inviting phrase to a woman in search of a manicure. Below are a few more places that went black before Black December, not that surviving would necessarily have done them any good...

Signage Rule No. 1: Customers should be able to figure out what your name is...

Everybody knows that you can't be The Big Cheese forever...

Even now, people don't want to dine with the butler...

Maybe this will be the last task that people don't do online...

See Signage Rule No. 1, above...


Vintage New York wishes everyone better luck next time.

Signing Off: More Reasons to Give Your Store Name More Thought

By Mitch Broder

As I continue to write of Manhattan haunts that have flourished for decades, I continue to find that they tend to have names like Katz's, Bill's, and Rocco's.

I also continue to find that the ones that get too creative tend to get into trouble — like, for example, Swich, Curl Up & Dye, and Dodo.

Since I posted about those last three places I have discovered more shuttered stores whose names I suspected might have contributed to their shuttering. Either way, their names left me shuddering. But you be the judge. Would you have lined up to get into these?

Could the menu perhaps have seemed too finite?

Could the menu perhaps have seemed too infinite?

Should any cantina be cosmic?

I would have questioned whether to go in...

Hiding won't sell the panini...

Success means never having to say Om Saree...

Then again, maybe Cinnamon was just the wrong spice...

Vintage New York takes no pleasure in store closings. It's just wondering.