What you need to know for Friday and the weekend.
Wegmans and Nordstrom Finally Make It Here |
Weather: Sunny with a light breeze and a high in the mid-60s. Expect more sun tomorrow, and rain on Sunday. |
Alternate-side parking: In effect until Sunday (Diwali). |
 | | Julia Weeks/Associated Press |
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Big-box retail is dying … to get to New York. |
That's the impression, at least, that one can get when seeing the behemoths opening this week in and near New York: Wegmans, Nordstrom and the American Dream mall. |
Here's what's driving their moves, and what the arrivals tell us about the state of brick-and-mortar stores in the city, and America. |
Where's it going: Brooklyn Navy Yard; opening Sunday. |
What to know: Wegmans' 74,000-square-foot location will be its first in New York City. The store will offer up to 70,000 items. |
About a decade ago, several national grocery chains made bids to plant roots at the Navy Yard, where they could serve both gentrifiers and thousands of nearby public housing residents. Ultimately, the city settled on Wegmans, in part because of its reputation as ethical, beloved and consumer-friendly. |
The company's stores are sometimes compared to European food halls. |
In a column, The Times's Ginia Bellafante wrote that Wegmans' arrival in Brooklyn sits squarely "at the heart of a paradox" for New Yorkers. Many decry the shuttering of beloved small local treasures, she said, but they also harbor enthusiasm for big-box retailers and the suburban sensibilities they bring with them. |
Where it is: 57th Street and Broadway in Midtown Manhattan; opened yesterday. |
What to know: Across the country, department stores are shuttering and struggling. But in New York, Nordstrom is reaching for the skies. Its seven-level flagship is now open "near the corpses of Bonwit Teller, Henri Bendel and the gravely wounded Barney's," my colleague Jonah Engel Bromwich wrote. |
It was a startling move, Mr. Bromwich reported, considering that Nordstrom has seen its sales go down and its stock price decrease this year. |
Nordstrom, however, has said it has figured out how to coordinate between selling offline and online. A third of its sales are made on the internet. |
Where it's going: The New Jersey Meadowlands; opening today. |
What to know: It has taken so long to build and open the American Dream mall that some of its original tenants, like Toys 'R' Us, are now bankrupt. |
But finally, after 15 years, three owners, two names and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives, the giant mall is a reality. Sort of. |
An ice-skating rink and a Nickelodeon amusement park are opening today. Eventually, there will be more than three million square feet of retail space, plus a caviar bar, water slides, an indoor ski slope and more. |
The owners said they were aiming for 40 million visitors a year (on par with Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.), but skeptics doubt that many locals and tourists will travel from Manhattan to get there. |
The owners weren't hearing it. "Sometimes to be a visionary and to step outside of the norm, you have to think big," Don Ghermezian, the chief executive of American Dream, told The Times. |
FROM THE TIMES Explore news from New York and around the region |
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A 38-year-old woman was found fatally shot in her home on Staten Island. [ABC 7] |
Daniel Pantaleo, the former New York police officer who was fired over the death of Eric Garner, is suing for his reinstatement. [Wall Street Journal] |
Sorry, Brooklyn. There is no such thing as a Brooklyn accent, linguists say. [Gothamist] |
The Library After Hours Halloween Masquerade features a costume contest, readings, games and more at the main branch of the New York Public Library in Manhattan. 7 p.m. [$15 in advance, pay what you wish at the door] |
The Free Black Women's Library's tribute to Toni Morrison includes book discussions, readings and performances at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn. 12 p.m. [Free with R.S.V.P.] |
Enjoy the cross-cultural ¡CalabazaFest 2019!, with mariachi, costume contests, a farmers' market and more, at RiseBoro Youth Center in Brooklyn. 11 a.m. [Free] |
— Melissa Guerrero and Julia Carmel |
Events are subject to change, so double-check before heading out. For more events, see the going-out guides from The Times's culture pages. |
And finally: Underground lives in Queens |
The Times's Nikita Stewart writes: |
New York City welcomes poor immigrants, but its housing does not. Most rents are far beyond the means of people who arrive looking for a better life or to make money to send back home. |
So they turn to the basements of Queens. Underneath the borough lives a shadow city of illegal apartments, shielded from sunlight. |
Owners of one- and two-family homes have carved up their basements into makeshift dorms, illicitly constructed with narrow hallways, shaky walls and electrical wiring strung together like knotted shoelaces. There is no accurate count of how many exist, but estimates are in the tens of thousands. |
An open secret, the basements are a haven for thousands of people who work in restaurant kitchens, on delivery bikes, in small factories or on construction sites. |
They live in tiny rooms alone, or share tight spaces with strangers, or even sleep in shifts. Eight areas in Queens are consistently among the top 10 places in the city with the most complaints for illegal home conversions. |
One man, Amado, rents half of a room in a basement for $325. That allows him to send money he makes working at a restaurant to his family in Mexico. |
Amado visits Mexico only twice a year, where he is a different man with a wife, a family and friends. He hopes to save enough money for a secure life there and to help his two stepdaughters pursue their dreams. |
Until then, he lives in the dark. |
It's Friday — the weekend awaits. |
Metropolitan Diary: At the garage |
For years, I parked my car in the same Upper East Side garage whenever I drove to the neighborhood from my home in Westchester County. I did it about four times a year. |
The same garage attendant was there every time. He always said he wouldn't charge me the extra fee required for my S.U.V. because I was a regular. |
I suspected that he said it to everyone who owned an S.U.V. in hopes of being rewarded with a generous tip — which he was every time. |
Once I arrived at the garage in a new sedan. The attendant said nothing as he handed me the ticket. |
Aha!, I thought. I was right. He had no idea who I was. |
When I returned hours later, the attendant retrieved my car. He didn't say anything until I handed him the usual tip. |
"Thank you," he said. "Did you sell your old car?" |
We're experimenting with the format of New York Today. What would you like to see more (or less) of? Post a comment or email us: nytoday@nytimes.com. |
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