After 10 years in business, Flowers Cafe will be closing at the end of this work week. Proprietor Bill Frazer tells us the independent sandwich shop will shut down on Friday, as the new owner of the nearly 200-year-old row house at 355 Grand St. prepares for demolition.
As we reported during the summer, Jennie Lai of Interboro Realty Management purchased the building for $4 million. She plans to replace the historic structure with a 6500 sq. ft. mixed-use building. Vic’s Pizza, also located in the building, is planning on staying open for a couple more months, according to signage outside the shop.
Frazer asked us to pass on his gratitude to the community for supporting the small business over the years. At one point, he thought about relocating. But the search for an affordable space was fruitless in the red hot Lower East Side retail market. The disappearance of Flowers Cafe and Vic’s leaves two chain stores — Domino’s Pizza and Subway Sandwich Shop — serving the immediate area.
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Lived here for a decade, only saw this place open a handful of times. Not sure what the heck was going on in there. Still, sad to lose another local business.