Planet of the Grapes

552 Broadway
Banana Republic has always kept a stiff upper lip when sneering at its rivals in the retail clothing industry. No matter where you go, you can always count on BR to sell the “safe” look. Its presence alone can deter the marginally adventurous shopper from experimenting at the next door leather shop. It comes [...]

546 Broadway, between Prince & Spring Streets
Presenting “Uniqlo,” from the country that brought us “Unico.” Yes… Decidedly not in our element, we walked around Uniqlo initially trying to figure out what is was, and what “Uniqlo” could actually mean. It almost sounds like “Uniglow,” who almost sounds like a super hero in a lost ’70s [...]

Corner of Prince & Greene Streets
At least one of us has a love/hate relationship with technology, at least one of us is a gadget man, and at least two of us will be nicknamed “Cream of Wheat” during brief prison stints. Regardless of all that, there is a Mac Store not only uptown on 5th [...]

95 E Houston St
Confusingly, “whole foods” refers to both a category of foods (generally unprocessed, unrefined, and using no added ingredients) and a chain that sells natural foods. Perhaps the chain is hoping to do to food what Xerox once did to making copies.
After going up to floor 2 and passing their version of a [...]

This building, a stunning achievement of early twentieth century architecture, is one of the few places that could rightfully be called the heart of New York. If that is true, then it was in need of a bypass a couple of years ago, and fortunately, it got one. From this location thousands of New [...]