A community roars, a deli owner listens
The opening of a gourmet deli on the Upper East Side – where dozens of bodegas, greengrocers and other boutique food shops have fallen victim to e-commerce and online shipping – is typically happy news.
But when a gleaming new store with big glass display windows opened a couple of weeks ago on the northwest corner of First Avenue and 90th Street, some community residents greeted it with anger and dismay.
That’s because it showcased an array of smoke-related ¬products that neighbors feared could be used as drug paraphernalia – including water pipes, hookahs, nitrous oxide, vaping liquids, flavored or colored rolling papers, liquid nicotine and “Bob Marley Cigarette Papers.”
Making matters worse: The First Avenue Gourmet Deli is located right around the corner from the East Side Middle School, or PS 114, at 331 East 91st Street, a top-ranked school with an enrollment of 443.
“They’re marketing their products as if it were candy for kids,” said Dave Rosenstein, a Yorkville resident since 1965 and longtime member of Community Board 8.
“It sends a bad message when you display drug paraphernalia in a place where children will be coming in on their lunch breaks,” he added. “It is legal, but very offensive.”
Rita Popper, another CB8 member who has lived in the area for 52 years, also found the display inappropriate.
“When you come in for a sandwich or a pizza or a Coca Cola, you shouldn’t also find drug paraphernalia,” she said. “No other deli in the neighborhood has it displayed so openly in its windows.”
Meanwhile, the middle school’s PTA has discussed complaints from both community members and some parents, said Leonard Silverman, the group’s co-president.
“We’re concerned about the proliferation of these kinds of businesses in close geographical proximity to our schools, and we’ve beginning to examine the issue,” he added.
Rosenstein was the first to take action. He went in and complained to the owner. It turned out he wasn’t alone. Other area residents, acting on their own with no group organizing the opposition, also aired their gripes.
A MERCHANT’S LAMENT
In an interview, owner Abdul Mohsen says he wasn’t overjoyed by the pushback, noting that he’d invested $350,000 in the new store. But he also acknowledged that he heard his new neighbors clearly and wanted to accommodate their concerns as best he could.
“I wanted to make everybody happy,” he said. On the other hand, he’s got a business to run: “Are the neighbors going to pay my rent?” he asked.
Mohsen decided he’d compromise on the issue, and a couple of days ago, he removed the paraphernalia from the larger First Avenue-facing windows – while leaving it in place in the smaller 90th Street-facing window.
“I lost almost $6,000 in taking down the showcase window,” he said. “But I said, ‘Let me get rid of it and everything will be fine.’”
Mohsen said he does everything by the book and retained an attorney to ensure compliance with all relevant laws. He’ll never sell to anyone under the age of 21, the legal minimum, and he’s posted a big sign in the store, as legally required, to ensure compliance from customers and employees.
“I would never, ever, ever sell to school kids,” he said. “What am I going to do, lose my license? I have great respect for the law.”
An aggressive package of bills recently passed by the City Council and signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio cracked down on smoke-related businesses and some displays, set limits for licenses, created tougher controls, upped the age for legal sales to 21 and required the posting of signs.
“It’s a district-wide problem,” said East Side City Council Member Ben Kallos.
In comments before the First Avenue window was altered, Kallos added, “If residents are as troubled as I am by this deli being a tobacco shop, they should communicate to the owner that they’d like to see the tobacco and drug paraphernalia removed in order to have their patronage.”
invreporter@strausnews.com