For decades, the sports bar Jake\u2019s Dilemma has been a go-to for all walks of life on the Upper West Side, according to longtime employee Michael Staff. That includes college students watching football, dads needing a beer after a long day at the nearby children\u2019s museum, and neighborhood locals looking to bump into a familiar face.<\/p>\n
But after 32 years in business, the Amsterdam Avenue watering hole recently announced that it lost its lease, and will close in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s like losing a limb,\u201d said Staff, the managing partner of Jake\u2019s Dilemma and the Gin Mill, a sister bar several doors down.<\/p>\n
Jake\u2019s Dilemma is one of at least five longtime Upper West Side businesses to announce closure plans in recent months. The list includes long-serving Broadway grocery Barzini\u2019s as well as Good Enough to Eat on Columbus Avenue, long known for wait lines that snaked outside the building.<\/p>\n
Businesses come and go all the time in the neighborhood, as they do elsewhere in the city, but the loss of so many venerable storefronts in a short span, the long duration of some vacancies, as well as the plethora of vacancies of all sorts have been jarring to some business and government leaders, who are weighing fixes.<\/a><\/p>\n Parts of the Upper West Side rank among the city neighborhoods with the highest shares of what a city comptroller’s report<\/a> calls deep, structural vacancies: storefronts that have remained empty for extended periods of time.<\/p>\n The same report notes that \u201cstorefront vacancy remains a significant feature of New York City\u2019s post-pandemic economic landscape.\u201d But it also notes that small businesses \u201ccontinue to thrive and have resisted being overtaken by chains.\u201d<\/p>\n Across the five boroughs, nearly 12,700 small businesses that were operating in 2020 are now vacant storefronts, according to the report. At the same time, \u201can almost comparable\u201d 10,700 storefronts that were vacant in 2019 are now operating as new small businesses, according to the findings.<\/p>\n What to do about those neighborhoods and business categories that continue to struggle? The report urges policymakers and stakeholders considering \u201cfuture interventions\u201d to develop a \u201ccomprehensive understanding of the drivers, duration, and localized impacts of\u201d the vacant storefronts in their midst.<\/p>\n City Councilmember Gale Brewer, who represents much of the Upper West Side and lived in the neighborhood for more than 50 years, is already investigating solutions.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIt’s very, very difficult running a small business,\u201d Brewer said. But, she added, \u201cthey are the DNA of our neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n Brewer is the sponsor of one remedy before the City Council, the Storefront Bill of Rights.<\/a><\/p>\n It would require a written lease for storefronts with tenancies longer than one year. Brewer said she\u2019s encountered many businesses without official leases \u2013 only a handshake deal. \u201cWhen the rent goes up 500%, they have nothing to fight with,\u201d Brewer said.<\/p>\n Leases would also be required to be translated in languages other than English, and provide relevant information about the building.<\/p>\n Another provision would require that commercial renters have the option to automatically renew their lease for up to one year, with the rent increase capped at no more than 10% of the current rate.<\/p>\n Jessica Walker, the president and CEO of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, told Gothamist she is concerned the provision could backfire by disincentivizing landlords from renting to small businesses that could be seen as less reliable tenants.<\/p>\n Brewer said she knows that there are concerns about that particular provision and she is open to amending it.<\/p>\n Another remedy comes from Councilmember Virginia Maloney, who represents the Upper East Side and adjoining neighborhoods.<\/p>\n She is the sponsor of a bill that specifically targets legacy businesses<\/a>. The legislation would establish a registry of qualifying businesses \u2013 nominated by a city official \u2013 that have been operating for at least 20 years. Maloney said in a statement to Gothamist that the bill would \u201cgive the city a tool to help keep them there.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill would come with a \u201cpreservation fund\u201d \u2013 a new city grant program \u2013 that would help registered businesses confront rising costs and incentivize landlords to offer long-term leases, Maloney said in the statement. The size of the fund or the grants have yet to be floated, according to a spokesperson for Maloney.<\/p>\n Businesses that have served a community for 20, 30 or even 50 years become part of a neighborhood\u2019s identity and history, Maloney said. \u201cSome of the first conversations I had while running for office were about empty storefronts and the neighborhood institutions New Yorkers were watching disappear,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Brewer said she likes Maloney\u2019s idea, but said the funding piece is \u201cwhere you’re gonna run into a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n The end of Jake\u2019s Dilemma<\/p>\n Staff said Jake\u2019s Dilemma occupied property long owned by the eatery\u2019s owner.<\/p>\n When the property was sold, that spelled doom for Jake\u2019s Dilemma, according to Staff. The real estate agency now advertises the space<\/a> as \u201cideal for upscale sit-down dining or premium healthy concepts\u201d \u2014 a far cry from a bar whose menu includes \u201cnachos grande\u201d for $13.99.<\/p>\n They were given 60 days to close up shop, Staff said.<\/p>\n In the mid-90s, when Staff first started working at the bar, he said \u201cit was like the wild west up here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe used to have a cop that walked the beat, and you were glad to see him,\u201d Staff said. \u201cI would put an A-frame out in front of the bar with our specials out every day, and there was a guy out there that I would have to chase away that was selling drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n About 10 years into their business, Staff said, it became \u201cmore and more family-oriented\u201d \u2013 dads with their infants in Baby Bjorns started to show up to watch college football. These days, he said, there is an influx of young people, which he said might have boosted business if it weren\u2019t already too late.<\/p>\n The dimly lit sports bar with a pool table and a tin ceiling made an impact on the neighborhood during its long run. An Instagram post<\/a> announcing the bar’s closure has more than 1,000 comments \u2013 most are from regulars who say they will sorely miss it.<\/p>\n \u201cJake\u2019s is significantly responsible for the life I have today: including numerous lifelong friendships, a happy marriage, and my unwavering ability to throw back a shot of Tully,\u201d one commenter wrote.<\/p>\n Others were less nostalgic. \u201cOh good, now we can get yet another Blank Street Coffee, Joe & the Juice, or maybe Pret A Manger,\u201d wrote another.<\/p>\n The West Side Rag, a community newspaper, has chronicled many of the goings, including the end of Good Enough to Eat after a 45-year run<\/a> due to declining business and a disagreement over the lease; and Cheesy Pizza, which closed after more than three decades<\/a>.<\/p>\n ILovetheUpperWestSide, another community newspaper, announced the closures of Edgar\u2019s Cafe, named after poet and Upper West Side resident Edgar Allen Poe, after nearly 40 years<\/a> in business.<\/p>\n The old school grocery Barzini\u2019s, which was dinged for health code violations, shuttered this summer after falling nearly $1 million behind on rent, according to a court record.<\/a><\/p>\n A Broadway problem<\/p>\n Alex Bell, the chair of the community board on the Upper West Side, also grew up in the neighborhood. He pointed out that Columbus and Amsterdam avenues feel much more lively than Broadway, where, he said, \u201cyou can feel the empty stores.\u201d<\/p>\n Bell is part of the steering committee to create the Upper Broadway Business Improvement District, which could add things like supplemental street cleaning and additional security to the neighborhood \u2013 cleanliness and feeling safe were the two biggest concerns of the more than 1,600 surveyed<\/a> community members.<\/p>\n Community members also highlighted the importance of filling vacancies.<\/p>\n \u201cEmpty storefronts kill the UWS and need vibrant, creative interim solutions,\u201d one survey responder said.<\/p>\n Walker, from the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, agreed that the vacancies in the Upper West Side is primarily a problem on Broadway, where nearly 40% of the neighborhood\u2019s empty storefronts are, according to data the agency obtained from a storefront tracker called Live XYZ.<\/a><\/p>\n Walker, Brewer and Bell all pointed out that this is likely to do with the storefronts themselves on the street, which are larger, often designed for offices or retail stores that struggle to compete against the conveniences of online shopping.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aIf you have like a big pharmacy or a large bank, it becomes very hard for another tenant to wanna take that over,\u201d Walker said. \u201c\u200aThose are the ones that sit vacant for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n But across the board, Walker said, \u201cthe ramifications of tariffs and inflation have hit small businesses particularly hard,\u201d especially restaurants.<\/p>\n \u201cHow much can you charge for a bowl of spaghetti? You know, at some point that becomes a problem,\u201d Walker said.<\/p>\n On the Upper West Side, Walker also has concerns about a lack of succession planning for business owners who, after running their storefront for decades, eventually want to retire.<\/p>\n Especially when times get tough, without a plan to either sell the business or put a family member in charge, Walker said, \u201cthey’re gonna close.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘Saviors in the neighborhood’<\/p>\n Jake’s Dilemma is hosting three, back-to-back going away parties on Oct. 16, 17 and 18. The business is inviting all patrons, new and old, to have one last glass with them.<\/p>\n \u201cJake\u2019s has been so much more than a bar,\u201d read an encased poster next to the building\u2019s wooden French doors. \u201cIt\u2019s been late nights, gamedays, first dates, bad decisions, lifelong friendships, incredible staff, and more stories than we could ever fit into one poster.\u201d<\/p>\n But the party isn\u2019t over yet: Jake’s sister bar The Gin Mill, located just across the street, \u201cis waiting with open arms,\u201d the farewell poster advertises.<\/p>\n For Brewer, small local businesses are worth fighting for.<\/p>\n \u201cThat is an ongoing appreciation for them every single day,\u201d Brewer said. \u201cThey are our saviors in the neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>\n