After Java Nation unceremoniously lost their lease to make way for a "more upscale" coffee joint, residents have been expressing concern about the changing face of the Southampton hamlet. Hoping to address the issue, The Sag Harbor Express recently sat down with a group of Sag businessfolk to discuss what's in store for the 11963. We've included some of our favorite bits below, but the whole (rather lengthy) piece is worth a read. Check it out if you've got some time this morning.
Nada Barry, owner of The Wharf Shop:
"...you have to grow and you have to change to be economically viable. You don’t want to be stagnant. Where I do regret is seeing the vacancies that exist. I don’t know yet what will go in there. I also regret in a sense that costs of things have escalated and we have lost our basic population that we used to have. We used to have a very different population to purchase things...Now it’s down to summers and weekends."
Charline Spektor, owner of BookHampton:
"We have a wonderful landlord in East Hampton and couldn’t be happier. I think he’s civic minded, socially conscious and aware of the value of East Hampton and we are lucky. I think when we were on the other side of the street, we had the exact opposite experience. You can see what a mess it is over there, and our side and how wonderful [it is]."
Hal Zwick, a commercial real estate broker on the East End:
"As someone involved in selling and leasing of commercial space, from what I’ve seen and calls I’m getting, it’s not necessarily the Ralph Laurens and Tiffany’s — they don’t feel they belong in Sag Harbor. But those smaller places with two or three stores in Manhattan, because rents are lower, those are the types more likely to come to Sag Harbor than very high-end chains."
· Debating the Nature of Change [Sag Harbor Express]
Loading comments...