Business

Like the swallows to Capistrano, nothing heralds the return of Spring to LIC more than the reappearance of Erdem and his fruit stand.  After spending the winter months shuttling between Anguilla and Gstaad, Erdem, a former managing director in the equity derivatives department at Deutsche Bank, touched down at JFK early this morning and made a beeline to the corner of 49th and Vernon. All kidding aside, Erdem, who originally hails from Ankara, provides good fresh produce at very reasonable prices.  And with his great locks and omnipresent smile, I wouldn’t be surprised if he also has a local bride by Labor Day.  Alas, despite his presence, it looks like another week of near frost temperatures.  But with Erdem resuming his post, I know the skirts are not far behind.  Until that time, there is alot of LIC news for you to mull over.  Which I will summarize, analyze, deride, and occasionally praise below.  And if you want the opportunity to castigate, or foist accolades on, local celebrities, here’s a chance for you to do so as well:

Hunters Point Civic Association –Dear Neighbors, Please save the date, April 9th at 7:30pm at the Irish Center.  Our City Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer will be coming to our meeting to take questions and hear the issues of the community.  Please let others know who you think may be interested.

Long Way To Go In LIC – a very objective look at all the recent architecture, development, and planning by an outsider.  Who I think has a very good read on the hurdles for LIC. (
LICtalk tip: if firewalls prevent your access to this story, just cut and paste the headline in Google)

New Avant Garde Building Coming to Court Square – yet despite the above, there is hope

Leaving Bushwick for LIC: A Great Alternative to Manhattan – a newbies first impression of living in LIC after various other stops

Meet Mrs. Met: Jon Niese’s Wife Leah – who lives w/ her husband in LIC according to the article.  Which you would have known if you took LICtalk 101

Sculpture Center Announces Details of $4.5 million Expansion and Renovation – LIC will soon have its own museum row

Bear: Nouvelle European Restaurant Charms in LIC

Aereo Continues to Fend Off Legal Challenges to Its Cloud Based TV Service – a local business that could be the next Newscorp …or LICtalk

LIC Arts Nonprofit Opens Vintage Boutique in 5Pointz

Business Booming In Circus Warehouse in LIC – I had absolutely no idea this incredible business existed right off Borden Avenue at the end of Vernon!

Circus Warehouse – no really, you gotta check this place out.  They train acrobats, trapeze artists, contortionists etc.

Oh, who are the people in your neighborhood,
In your neighborhood, in your neighborhood.

They’re the people that you meet
When you’re walking down the street
They’re the people that you meet each day!

Back in 197?, whenever I watched this segment on Sesame Street, it would feature occupations such as dentists, grocers, and firemen.  Never in my wildest imaginations would I have thought that 30+ years later that group would come to include something called an iPodMeister.  Of course back in the 70’s I never could have envisioned living happily in a small apartment in Queens either, but that’s another story.  Nowadays, the first thing a parent might conjure when faced with describing an iPodMeister to their young children is “Ooh sounds scary, maybe in a few years.”  Yet for their own well being, what should come to mind is “Wow, what an awesome concept.”  Especially for those living in say, a small, space-constrained apartment in Queens with a midget or two and all the “infrastructure” required to, uhh, nurture them.

Thus I ventured down to Borden Avenue, an area that also might seem scary to some, to meet with the founder of this locally based business.  Kris Schrey began iPodMeister 13 years ago, based on his own experience trying to sell his entire CD collection in order to reduce the amount of “stuff” in his life.  After lugging roughly 200 CD’s in a cab from his midtown apartment to the stores in the East Village that purchased used CD’s, he came away disenfranchised over the pennies on the dollar prices he was quoted, and the whole process of being judged on his musical tastes(Author’s personal anecdote: being bid $2 for my entire KISS collection, which I paid ~$150 bucks for in 6th grade.   The indignity was much more painful than the price).  In tandem with the tremendous hassle of the schlepping, Kris thought ‘there has to be a better way.’  So he went about creating it.

The business was started in a ’10 x ’10 storage room in Manhattan, which grew to 5 rooms, then a loft in Dumbo, then two lofts, then to a space by the Queensboro Bridge.  Finally, he has settled into half a floor in one of the massive industrial buildings on Borden Avenue.  Kris moved his operation to LIC for several reasons.  First of all it is the only place in NYC, outside of the Bronx and remote areas in Brooklyn(Sunset Park, where’s that?) where one can still find large industrial spaces that can accomodate 50 ft. trailers and the loading docks and elevators his business requires.  It houses over half a million cd’s, as well as tons of books.  The day I visited he had just received several pallets of books from a collection in Long Island.  Kris explained to me how most people sell these items when there is a transition in their life, namely a move, and they come to the big decision “while we’re at it, we may as well get rid of…”  These are usually very emotional moments, as people are ridding themselves of the music they listened to in say high school or college, and the memories that are attached to it.  Of course there’s also a pretty good chance those CD’s haven’t been taken out of their case since graduation, as many people have moved on to a digital format.

Finally, there is an environmental angle to all this: CD’s and their cases are not biodegradable, so if you just throw them in the garbage, they end up in a landfill for eternity.  Most people want to do the right thing ecologically, it’s just not always so easy.  Kris honed in on this human foible as the key to his business, and thus iPodMeister makes it practically effortless by offering free inbound FedEx shipping and printable labels.  So now you have absolutely no excuse not to declutter your apartment, and save the natural habitat of the indigenous people of Staten Island.

iPodMeister – CD’s, DVD’s, Books, and Legos for cash, or you can choose to have the CD’s ripped into digital format

Court Square in Queens is the New Hot Residential Market – not really news here, other than one might infer from the article that Court Square is like Bourbon Street at night time

Retail Amenities Still Sparse In Court Square – a little more accurate on the current state of affairs in Court Square

LIC’s L-Haus Sells Out

Hunters Point CSA Needs Core Members – a local option for fresh fruits and vegetables

Pig Photos of Alobar Chef – kooky but not kinky

LIC is Having an Identity Crisis – another in a long line of stories about naming us LIC; boy has this story been milked

LIC Bar “Who” Fundraiser – as covered by the Daily News