Lest you think the cupcake wave is ancient history, be forewarned:
within 12 months we will have at least six to 10 new cupcake shops in
New York City.
Crumbs Bake Shop — which has become the Starbucks of bake
shops in New York City — has three new stores on the way in the New
York metro area, including one at 109 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. And the chain is searching all over the East Coast for new sites.
Crumbs has 12 Manhattan shops, plus three in Long Island — in East Hampton, Huntington and Woodbury.
This summer, cupcakes will be coming by way of a 42,500-square-foot
artisanal Italian food and wine marketplace in the former Toy Building
at 200 Fifth Avenue Near 23rd Street. Eataly will have distinct retail
areas with their own restaurants. There will be a separate wine shop,
bakery and patisserie.
Later this year, Bouchon Bakery, which has had a shop in the Time
Warner Center since 2006, will open with lots of cupcakes, I hope, in
the former home of Dean & DeLuca, across from the studios of the
“Today” show at One Rockefeller Plaza.
In 1945, Gino’s Italian
restaurant opened its doors at 780 Lexington Avenue near 61st, across
from Bloomingdale’s. The legendary restaurant closed at the end of May
and next year will be replaced by Beverly Hills, Calif.-based Sprinkles Cupcakes.
And lastly, it looks like it will be the battle of the bulge, er
cupcakes, in the West Village, between popular mainstay Magnolia at 401
Bleecker Street and Chicago-based Molly’s Cupcakes. Molly’s is expected to open a Manhattan shop down the block at 228 Bleecker Street.
Michael Stoler is a columnist for The Real Deal and
host of real estate programs “The Stoler Report” and “Building New
York” on CUNY TV and on WEGTV in East Hampton. His radio show, “The
Michael Stoler Real Estate Report,” airs on 1010 WINS on Saturdays and
Sundays. Stoler is a director at Madison Realty Capital as well as an
adjunct professor at NYU Real Estate Institute, and a former
contributing editor and columnist for the New York Sun.