Pre-Demolition Pt. 2

These photos were taken on April 15 at around 7:15pm. The junk that was left by the previous tenants as well as the faux-wood paneling has been removed. The demo should begin soon - as the contractor has already submitted his permit applications and is ready to roll. There's a lot to do, but the space is fairly small and my build-out isn't going to involve new walls or heavy-duty design elements. That said, a lot of work needs to be done from the bones on up.

This is facing west, with the road traveling roughly north and south. As you can see, W. Allendale Ave. is made up of a bunch of little shops. And this is only a fraction of the stores on the street. On the far left is Masa, a terrific Japanese restaurant. Next to that is the start of my landlord's property, the red brick building known as 83-89 W. Allendale Ave. 83 W. Allendale Ave., the first on the left in the red brick building, was Laura's Cafe, and is currently transforming into a pizza place. The space with the large window is the future home of my cheese, sandwich and specialty food shop. To the right of me is my landlord Ed's State Farm Agency. To the right of him is a dog grooming operation. The empty space to the right of the dog groomers was where Allendale Pizza and Paradise Video once stood but after a "questionable" fire in the video store (the dude drove a brown Ferrari 328...yes, brown). Another little tidbit - the insurance agency was once a Chinese restaurant. I think it was called Great Wall. My space was once either a pizzeria or bakery. Note: the apartments above the stores have all been recently renovated from top to bottom, and are available. Call Ed for more info (


The entrance to my shop is beyond that terrible white woodwork. That will be knocked out, leaving an open foyer of sorts - should be very welcoming once that's all finished.

What you see here is the view of the back wall. To the left in the back is a bathroom. It's terrible, I know. We'll get there.

Facing north, or moving clockwise, you can see the remnants of a chimney behind the wall with those two circles in the middle. The vent system you see to the right of that we will removed. Just off the photo to the right is the entrance to the basement.

This is the wall between the basement door and the front door. A very nice armoir with great edible treats will go up against this as well as a refrigerated cabinet for drinks.

No we are facing out to the street from the back of the shop. A terrific view, smack dab in the middle of Allendale.


Across the street are several stores including Beantown, a great little coffee shop, a dress shop, Robert's Haircutters (I used to go to him as a little kid), a very homey florist shop, a kid's collectible and toy shop called Jumbleiah, owned by my old neighbor's the Tenbekjians, a real estate agent and another insurance agency.
This is the south wall which will be where the action will occur - with the display case and carerra marble countertop and more.


That's it for now. Let's get this moving!