Here’s some news just about everyone in the Lower East Side/Chinatown community will be happy to hear. As we reported this past Friday, Dong Wang and Helen Chen of Shan Fu Grocery (A&N Fruit Store) were preparing to shut down their business. There was an outpouring of love and support for what’s known to most of us as “the snowman fruit stand,” after it appeared that new owners of the building wanted the popular grocery at 23 Canal St./1 Essex St. to vacate the space effective October 1. But Dong and Helen were all smilies today, telling The Lo-Down that they will be returning to the space after renovations are completed next spring.
We’re told there was a failure to communicate due to differences in language. The building was purchased earlier this year by TTC Investments VII LLC, which is controlled by local resident and property owner Adam Woodward. He’s working with Ron Castellano, the Lower East Side-based architect behind the restorations of The Forward Building on East Broadway and the Jarmulowsky Bank Building (now known as the hotel, Nine Orchard). Castellano tells us Woodward always wanted Shan Fu Grocery to stay. Castellano went by yesterday, with a Chinese translator, to explain the situation. The grocery will need to move out temporarily, but is set to return following renovations.
There was a lot of speculation that the new owners would demolish 1 Essex Street, replacing it with a tall, glassy tower. That’s not happening. In the months ahead, there will be repairs and restoration of the facade; work will take place on the first floor and cellar level. For inspiration, the design team will be drawing on historic photos of the building, including these from the 1930s. As you can see, a corner grocer has been part of the history at this location going back decades.
While Shan Fu Grocery will be returning, that’s not the case for other businesses at 1 Essex, including Vida Signs and The Hunt. They are expected to shut down on October 1.
If you are a longtime reader of The Lo-Down, Adam Woodward’s name might sound familiar. Back in 2013, he snuck into a construction site at 50 Bowery, capturing possible evidence of relics from the Revolutionary War-era Bull’s Head Tavern. Later, The New York Times profiled Woodward, writing, “he has cajoled or insinuated his way into nearly every antebellum building on the Bowery, ahead of the wrecking crews, photographing and salvaging what he finds inside the walls, attics and subbasements of factories, taverns, storefronts and tenements, many long ago abandoned.”
As for Dong and Helen, they are looking forward to some much needed rest. A lot of people will be relieved that their closure in less than 30 days is not a permanant “goodbye,” but only a goodbye for now.
