Ray’s Pizza at 250 East Houston Folds

Blockbuster Video on East Houston is closing. It had been a rumor for the last few years, but finally confirmed at the end of January. That much is certain. Even if you’ve been unplugged from the news lately, just amble past and the plethora of signs will do the talking. But keep walking east, and you’ll notice that the famous unoriginal Ray’s Pizza at 250 East Houston is finished, too. Kaput. Kitchen equipment and seating ripped out. That leaves one remaining Ray’s Pizza outpost just across the thoroughfare.

This latest intel doesn’t bode well for the Red Square strip mall in general (nay, “The Shops at Red Square”), which is basically a collection of chain stores hanging by a thread. According to the JDF Realty listing, what is now Sleepy’s and the long-closed In Style hair salon are both part of the deal.

Of course the nightmare scenario that the neighborhood fears is some huge bar-restaurant monstrosity moves in for the killing…