Across the country, the Dollar Store Wars mean that the national chains Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Family Dollar, and Dollar Express are fighting it out across the country for customers’ affection and brand loyalty. National chains have taken over just about every other retail category, so will independent dollar stores be able to survive? [More]
brooklyn
Man With Guide Dog Kicked Out Of Popeyes, Told ‘No Pets Allowed’
By 11.18.16 — Updated: 2.10.17
Guide dogs and other service dogs are not pets, and federal law protects their right to go anywhere that their owners are allowed to be. Yet the owner of a Popeyes restaurant in Brooklyn wasn’t clear on that concept, and used the “no pets” policy to kick a blind man and aspiring chicken-orderer out of the establishment. [More]
14 More Tiny Urban Target Stores Will Open In 2016-2017
By 12.29.15
Yes, Target is a chain of big-box stores, but the company sees its future in considerably smaller boxes. Instead of suburban stores of more than 100,000 square feet in the suburbs, all but one of the stores that Target has planned in 2016 and 2017 are small-format stores in urban areas across the country. [More]
If You Want To Use Amazon Fresh You’ll Have To Pay $299/Year For PrimeFresh First
By 10.19.15
How much are you willing to pay to have bags of fresh produce, and other grocery items delivered to your door anytime of the year? If you live in Seattle, Philadelphia, or New York, Amazon’s hoping $299/year is the magic number. [More]
Once Medicaid Decides That You’re Dead, It’s Hard To Come Back To Life
By 9.28.15
When you’re dead, you generally can’t come back. It’s also difficult to come back when you’re actually alive, but the government thinks that you’re dead. An 87-year-old on Brooklyn is understandably worried, because Medicaid has declared her dead. If other government services believe them, dead people don’t need to do things like visit doctors or eat, so her income, food stamps, and health insurance would stop. This would be bad. [More]
NYC Cereal Bar Selling $6 Servings Of Cereal You Can Buy For $5 A Box At The Store
By 8.26.15
Yes yes, we know — Trix is for kids. But it — and other sweet cereals — is also for adults who are willing to pay $6 a serving for it in Brooklyn rather than going to a corner bodega store to buy a box of their own for about $5. A new cereal bar has just opened up in Brooklyn (where else?) offering a slew of cold cereals served in a celebrity-designed shoe box. But hey, there are toppings, so… [More]
New York Lottery Seeks Missing Buyer Of $7 Million Ticket
By 7.23.15
A year ago, someone walked into a bodega (or, as we say in the rest of the country, a “convenience store”) in Canarsie, Brooklyn, and bought a lottery ticket. Perhaps he or she lost the ticket, or missed checking the winning numbers, because the buyer won $7 million, yet has not come forward. They need to do so before tomorrow. [More]
Drug-Sniffing Dogs Find Shipping Container Full Of Cocaine-Stuffed Shrimp
By 6.25.15
We are fairly certain that cocaine-stuffed shrimp is not a Guyanese delicacy. That’s how 268 kilograms of cocaine arrived in a shipping container at a port in Brooklyn, though. Law enforcement followed the delivery to a warehouse in Queens and arrested a man in the seafood business, who claims that he had nothing to do with the shipment. [More]
West Elm Quietly Removes “Made In Brooklyn” Items That Weren’t Actually Made In Brooklyn
By 1.13.15
If a company slaps “Made In USA” on a product, it could get in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission when that product turns out to be made elsewhere. But the folks at West Elm didn’t see a problem in labeling products as “Made in Brooklyn” even when they were made elsewhere (unless China is part of Brooklyn) — at least not until the media noticed. [More]
ID Thieves Use Domino’s Ordering App To Check Stolen Card Numbers
By 12.8.14
Let’s say you’re a criminal who has just purchased a bunch of credit/debit card numbers stolen from one of the data breaches that occur every day. How do you check to see if the numbers you’ve purchased are any good? For ID thieves in Brooklyn, the Domino’s Pizza ordering app provided a quick and easy way to run through those numbers — and get pizza for people. [More]
Amazon Fresh Reaches East Coast But Only For Select Group Of Brooklynites
By 10.17.14
Residents of New York City jealous of their West Coast counterparts for receiving sometimes-fresh grocery deliveries from Amazon should pine no more. The e-tailer began deliveries of Amazon Fresh in a very concentrated area of the Big Apple today. [More]
New York State Attorney General Tries To Shut Down Lyft Before Tonight’s NYC Launch
By 7.11.14
Seven hours from now, people in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens were supposed to be able to dial up a vehicle from ride-sharing service Lyft and coast through traffic in a cloud of peer-to-peer vehicular bliss. “Not so fast!” the New York state government said to the service, its drivers, and their pink-mustachioed cars. [More]
This Is Not A Welcoming Retail Establishment
By 4.16.14
Reader David was walking down a street in Brooklyn when he noticed this unfriendly-looking retail establishment. He called it the “least welcoming front door ever on a jewelry store,” and we have to agree. It would be less welcoming if it were locked, maybe. [More]
Time Warner Cable Lies To Me, Tells Me I Should Be Happy I’m Getting Half The Savings I Was Promised
By 2.15.13
The cable industry has two kinds of horrible people — Those who flat-out lie to customers in order to trick them into purchasing a package with hidden costs or conditions, and those who refuse to do anything about it when a customer calls shenanigans on that sort of deceit. [More]
Bookstore Combats E-Books With One Thing Your Kindle Can’t Offer
By 11.13.12
Whatever benefits an e-book might have over its print counterpart, and no matter how close digital media gets to ink-on-paper, there is one thing that downloaded copy of Moby Dick can’t offer to some readers: The collectable factor. [More]
Hurricane-Damaged Restaurant Sells “Junk Bonds” To Pay For Rebuilding
By 11.12.12
In the world of finance, junk bonds are high-yield, high-risk investments. But a restaurant in Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood, which was particularly hard-hit by Hurricane Sandy, is selling “junk bonds” that offer no return on your investment other than a decent meal and a good feeling that you’re helping a local business rebuild. [More]
Man Pleads Guilty To Selling Booze To Underage Customer Even Though Video Footage Shows He Didn't
By 4.25.12
Earlier this month, an employee at a Brooklyn bodega was arrested for selling alcohol to a minor in an undercover sting operation. On the advice of his lawyer he entered a guilty plea and paid the $120 fine, but that was before he found out that there is in-store video footage that appears to vindicate him. [More]
School Orders Students To Delete Facebook Accounts Or Face Expulsion
By 3.29.12
Last week, every 11th grade student at a Jewish school for girls in Brooklyn was told to delete their Facebook accounts or risk a $100 fine, or even the possibility of expulsion. [More]
