[Alberta's Child]

This shows how absurd the whole retail market in NYC has been. Just a few months ago there was an article about the disappearance of Little Italy in Manhattan. Many of the restaurants and retail stores were closing or moving because they couldn't afford the escalating rents.

And now we're hearing that the retail real estate market in NYC is in shambles? Oh ... OK.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Landlords don’t want small businesses. They want Nike and Apple and Lululemon and they will fall all over themselves making concessions to get them.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: the disappearance of Little Italy in Manhattan. Many of the restaurants and retail stores were closing or moving because they couldn’t afford the escalating rents.

I actually have an acquaintance who owns a restaurant in Little Italy. He was planning to move to Queens after the owner planned the jack up the rent by an unreasonable amount. A few months later, he was able to stay due to the fact that the owner did not want a good tenant to leave and risk the place being vacant ...

When I asked him if the owner raised the rent, he said he did, but at a smaller percentage ( to cover the increase in property taxes. Well, I guess we can put the blame back on city government ).