To get lost in Queens\u2019 Eclectic\/Encore Props was to drift across seemingly infinite dimensions. The 95,000-square-foot showroom in an industrial corner of Long Island City wasn’t just a prop rental shop leasing a vast array of fittings and fixtures to film and TV stagers and set dressers, but a lovingly arranged showroom of myriad parallel universes of stuff.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u200aOne theme section has Halloween, and you walk a little bit more and you see our version of \u2018Jurassic Park,\u2019 and the nautical section, where we have six sharks on the wall,\u201d described owner Suri Bieler of her surreal empire. \u201cI was able to create a showroom where you walk through and you see the different worlds, which is wonderful. Wherever you go, you see something different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bieler started the company with $175 back in 1979. In the decades since, it grew to be one of the largest \u2014 if not the largest \u2014 prop shops on the East Coast. Bieler recently sold the building Eclectic\/Encore operated out of and is closing up shop after nearly a half-century in business.<\/p>\n
The building needs repairs, she said, and Hollywood has had a tough few years. Bieler, who has a deep respect for the industry, especially for those who build its sets, expressed guilt for even acknowledging that fact.<\/p>\n
\u201cI created this business for the decorators,\u201d she explained. \u201cThey’re able to come in and choose objects that help them create the characters that we go to the movies, watch TV, to see, and we believe them. We believe that they’ve created a world.\u201d<\/p>\n
So did she.<\/p>\n
Here are the other notable business and openings and closings.<\/p>\n
Closings<\/p>\n
Errol\u2019s Caribbean Delights<\/a>, 661 Flatbush Ave., Prospect Lefferts Gardens<\/p>\n After 25 years slinging pastries, curried goat, oxtail and other \u2014 per its name \u2014 Caribbean delights from its Flatbush Avenue storefront, Errol\u2019s owners are retiring and the beloved neighborhood shop is shuttering. The local institution opened back in 2001, originally only selling hard dough breads, rolls, fruit cakes, and the like before eventually adding hot meals to the menu.<\/p>\n Montezuma<\/a>, 119 West Kingsbridge Road, Kingsbridge Heights<\/p>\n The Bronx\u2019s Montezuma Restaurant has closed after 40 years serving Tex-Mex and Caribbean cuisine. The single-story establishment opened in the mid-1980s and was a fixture on Kingsbridge Road with its white half-moon sign and frequent live entertainment. \u201cWe close this chapter with hearts full of gratitude and nostalgia,\u201d reads a closure announcement posted to Instagram<\/a>. \u201cForty years of history, shared laughter, unforgettable flavors, and music that brought our stage \u2014 in the heart of the Bronx \u2014 to life.\u201d<\/p>\n The Red Caboose<\/a>, 23 W. 45th St., Midtown<\/p>\n The heyday of hobby shops has long past, but until recently Red Caboose endured in its West 45th Street basement, offering custom built cars, miniature planes, NYC trains, automobiles, books, paints, parts and more. \u201cOn this site since 1946 there has been a hobby shop,\u201d The Red Caboose\u2019s website poetically explains, referencing the fact that before Caboose (which has had multiple locations) moved in in 1994, the store was home to Model Railway Equipment Corp. But, no more: Public records show the building was purchased this year and is reportedly slated for demolition<\/a>.<\/p>\n Openings<\/p>\n One Flight Up<\/a>, 108 Greenwich St., Financial District<\/p>\n Bebop drummer Joe Strasser and his longtime friend Mark Quinn have newly opened a literally named jazz club up a narrow flight of stairs, on the second floor of a Financial District storefront. Strasser came upon the space on Facebook Marketplace and, on visiting, found it reminiscent of the long-shuttered, legendary Village jazz haunt Bradley\u2019s<\/a>. The red-curtained space is now open Tuesdays through Saturdays, with jam sessions every night but Wednesday.<\/p>\n