Jeffrey’s Meat Market Not Returning to Essex Street Market!
It’s officially official. Jeffrey’s Meat Market will not be returning to the Essex Street Market, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. The paper’s Metropolis blog published an article yesterday afternoon that all but dashed hopes of a return to business. Eponymous owner Jeffrey Ruhaulter “temporarily” closed the store back in March, and has been on ice ever since. Recent shopping trips showed his former space completely stripped of all gear, awaiting a new occupant.
This image has been archived or removed.
Here are some excerpts from the piece:
“I’m leaving the Essex market,” said Ruhalter, 55 years old. “Right now, honestly I’m still numb from it. I started working there when I was six years old. We moved into Essex Street Market the day it opened and we’ve been there ever since. It’s hard to accept.”
Ruhalter said he sought investors after the March closing, but some potential investors balked after reviewing the lease. Meanwhile, questions about the market’s future are growing as the city proceeds with its urban renewal program on the Lower East Side.
The Economic Development Corporation, the city organization running the market, is reportedly moving forward with finding a new occupant.
“We wish Jeffrey the best, and thank him and the Ruhalter family for their decades of dedication to the market and its customers,” said Kyle Sklerov, an EDC spokesman, in an e-mailed statement. “We will now move forward with finding a new vendor to reactivate Jeffrey’s former space and look forward to continuing the success of this vibrant public market which serves the Lower East Side community.”
Seriously, what the fuck is happening to our neighborhood?
Recent Stories
Unprovoked Stabbing on Worth Street has Chinatown on Edge
In an apparently random attack yesterday evening, a 36-year-old Chinese man was stabbed in the back, and severely injured, by Brooklyn resident Salman Muflihi. The attacker wielded an eight-inch knife in the incident outside the Daniel Patrick Moynihan U.S. Courthouse on Worth Street, then surrendered at the entrance of the Manhattan DA’s office on Hogan Place. […]
Uncapped: In Conversation with Clayton Patterson and Cochise
Oh hey, Boogie Faithful, it’s your favorite historian here announcing our new graf-related podcast. We’ve done a few episodes, literally, and for the latest, Clayton Patterson has come out of his Boogie corner. We chatted, we laughed, we discussed some esoteric, anecdotal and priceless Lower East Side history. Local native and artist Jose “Cochise” Quiles also […]
Jing Fong Waiters Urge Landlord to Reinstate Dining Room
Chinatown shook to its core last weekend upon news that Jing Fong is closing down its massive dining room next week (March 7). The restaurant will continue operating as a ghost kitchen to fulfill orders for takeout, delivery, and outdoor dining on its patio. They’re reportedly on a month-to-month lease. “With our drastic decline in […]
Small Business Owners ‘Permanently Close’ to Demand COVID Relief
Local small business groups, along with the Cooper Square Committee, East Village Community Coalition, and Village Preservation are hosting a rally today in the name of economic survival. It’s part of a statewide week of activism to find commercial rent relief in the city. With that, businesses who fear forever closure due to rent burdens […]
Fired Laundry Workers Accuse Liox Cleaners of ‘Union Busting’
The Liox Cleaners chain is facing a raft of opposition in the wake of alleged “union busting.” Tuesday afternoon saw the first of two picketing actions outside the Allen Street location, just north of Delancey. According to the distributed literature, “On February 19, the Liox laundry chain fired the immigrant woman workers of the Wash […]
