Openings and closings: Fire destroys Bronx businesses, Famous Dave’s BBQ to open

From left: Sympathy for the Kettle, Korhogo 126

A fire destroyed a row of businesses along White Plains Road between East 235th and East 236th streets in the Bronx early yesterday. A deli, a Caribbean restaurant and a computer repair store were among those gutted by the blaze. Circus, a bar in Midtown, has closed. Sympathy for the Kettle, a tea shop, has closed its East Village location to focus on internet sales. African-French fusion restaurant Korhogo 126 has closed. After several recent closings, Avenue B now has 22 vacant storefronts. In Brooklyn, the Starlight Lounge in Crown Heights is closing. The City Lights Diner in Boerum Hill has closed, but according to signs on the building, the Ocean View Diner will soon take its place.

In other opening news, Comida Mercado Fresco, a Yucatecan restaurant, has opened at 461 Columbus Avenue at 82nd Street. Famous Dave’s BBQ hopes to open on 47th Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues this week. The owner of Panificio on Avenue B reportedly plans to reopen the shuttered space, possibly under a new name. Amsterdam-based design firm Droog has opened its first American retail space at 76 Greene Street in Soho. New York Rangers player Sean Avery has teamed up with Matt Abramcyk, co-owner of the Beatrice Inn, and Chris Miller, a former art dealer, to open Warren 77, a restaurant and bar. In Brooklyn, the family of a father and son killed in the family bodega, the Utica Deli & Grocery, said the store will reopen, though not immediately. Brooklyn Bicycles will open at the corner of Ninth Street and Sixth Avenue in May. A new taco stand has opened at the corner of Metropolitan and Bedford in Williamsburg. TRD