Thursday, September 13th, 2012

I’ve spent the past three days speculating that The Purple Fig had closed for good (here, here & here).

It turned out to be as unproductive as speculation usually is…

Looks like Purple Fig will indeed be reopening.

After getting a tip from a reader earlier today who had looked in their window and reported it “looks like they are packing up,” I took a stroll over.

There were definitely items packed up in moving blankets, but they appear to be staying put.

I don’t have the details, but I found someone inside who said they would be reopening this weekend or next week and had been closed for “remodeling.”

MUW reader @ManhattanMingle happened to send in this tweet last night:

“purple fig owner told me 3 wks ago there was water damage from neighbor and needed to do extensive repairs. True story.”

I was dubious, but perhaps that’s accurate.

I’ve been checking TPF’s Facebook and Twitter feeds over the past few weeks and both had been completely silent. Then MUW reader Amy spotted this message posted earlier today:

We open again friday after a short summer break!

There’s been an odd lack of communication with the public over the past few weeks (no signage up, no social media, disconnected telephone), but for now it appears as though it was all just temporary.

I hope to have some details next week.

It’ll be interesting to see if they’ve used the past few weeks to retool their operations, as reviews of the restaurant have been less than flattering.

Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that it’s a terrible job by them to have their OpenTable account online. I was just able to make a reservation for TONIGHT, and they are definitely not open right now.

Until earlier this week their OpenTable account had been “offline” — no idea why it was reactivated when they’re not open for business.

In opening news…

Readers Andrew and Ann report progress is being made on the 7-Eleven slated to open in the old Gourmet Garage space at 2567 Broadway (between 96th & 97th) — that’s Ann’s photo below.

It’s unclear at the moment if 7-Eleven is taking over the entire space or not, as initial reports said it would be subdivided into “multiple units.”

When it finally opens, it will be the third 7-Eleven on the UWS, joining locations at 676 Amsterdam (corner of 93rd) and 600 Columbus (corner of 89th).

Finally, Ann also reports that the mystery “women’s clothing store” slated for the former Golden Boy Grocery space (Broadway, between 98th & 99th) is a mystery no more.

It’s going to be a Variazioni boutique.

What makes this a bit odd is that Variazioni just opened another store at 2659 Broadway in April. That’s at the corner of 101st, less than three blocks north.

They also have another store nearby at 2389 Broadway, between 87th & 88th (an additional store opened at 181 Columbus — corner of 68th — in July).

The two new ones on Broadway are even closer than you find most Starbucks — I’m trying to find out if there’s any difference between the two of them. (Note: I don’t think the one between 98th/99th is actually open yet).

Ann mentioned in her note that a few years back Variazioni had multiple stores in the West 80s, so maybe this is just how they roll.

Filed under: Fashion, Food & Drink, Going Out, Manhattan, New York City, News, NYC, Openings/Closings, Restaurants, Shopping, Upper West Side, Upper West Side Blog, UWS 5 Comments »
Tags: 181 Columbus, 2389 Broadway, 2567 Broadway, 2659 Broadway, 7-11, 7-Eleven, Boutique, Closing, Fashion, Golden Boy, Golden Boy Grocery, Golden Boy Market, Gourmet Garage, New York City, NYC, Opening, slurpee, The Purple Fig, Upper West Side, UWS, Variazioni, Women's Clothing