South City Grill, You mean the one on 17? I would rather meet somewhere in Ridgewood. By the way anybody has been to Varkas in Ramsey? It is by far one of the best restaurants in the area..
I didnÃt know that one in six of us works on/around the Street, and thereÃre pretty of bond traders... Wall Street's pain felt by North Jersey retailers Sunday, June 8, 2008 BY HUGH R. MORLEY STAFF WRITER Rick Breitstein has a small businessman's eye for the economy and figures it curdled about a month ago. That's about the time his store, the Cheese Shop of Ridgewood, a purveyor of up-market dairy products to the village's affluent, suffered a double-digit drop in business, he said. Part of the problem, he said, is the economic woes of Ridgewood's sizable pool of financial-services workers. "I have customers that don't come here anymore," said Breitstein, surrounded by slabs of English Stilton and French Epoisse and Brillat-Savarin cheeses that sell for as much as $60 a pound. "They are bond traders," he said. "They are all suffering. ... They are not making the money." Breitstein is one of several Ridgewood store owners who say they have felt the impact of the plummeting fortunes of the state's financial industry on their own bottom line. Experts say the industry's loss of 4 percent of its workforce in the last 30 months is just the start as Wall Street firms carry out thousands of layoffs announced in recent months. Financial job cuts in New York also hurt North Jersey because of the high volume of commuters. That's especially true in Ridgewood, where the 2000 census found one in six of the village's employed residents worked in the financial-services sector. Other North Jersey communities with sizable numbers of financial-services employees included Wyckoff, Wayne, Paterson, Clifton, Fort Lee and Edgewater, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. The impact on Ridgewood offers a snapshot of the variety of ways that these communities are affected by the industry's hard times. A few blocks from Breitstein's store, bagel maker Elliot Cohen said he has been seeing far fewer customers from the Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney offices on Ridgewood Avenue than in the past. "We used to get breakfast and lunch deliveries there, and we've seen a lot less," he said. "One guy used to buy breakfast for the whole group on Friday. He doesn't come anymore." At Re/Max Properties of Ridgewood, Sal Poliandro said the changing fortunes of the financial sector are evident among his clientele. He sold a house for a man employed at UBS' Weehawken office after that office downsized and he was moved to Charlotte, N.C. The company said in March it would lay off 14 employees at the office. Another UBS employee, who recently moved from Virginia to work in the same UBS office, bought a $900,000 house with Poliandro's help but is getting jittery about her job security, he said. "I spoke to her and she is a little concerned," he said. "But she is still working." Gary Sparker, a system designer at Sound View Electronics, which sells high-end video and sound equipment, said concern about the future among financial brokers is one reason the store's business has been slow for about six months. "I've had a few people say, 'Let's see what my bonus is like this year, and I'll be back,' Ã" he said. "People are more cautious with the decision-making." E-mail: morley@northjersey.com
That Cheeseshop is way overpriced. Even whole foods looks like a bargain compared to his shop. I usually buy my cheese from King's or A&P. He has good truffle honey though. My guess is his customers are still buying cheese but not from him because of his high mark-ups.
If anytraders in Ridgewood want to get together, we can do it this month..I propose Office as the location.. http://www.office-beerbar.com/ The other alternative may be Mac Murphy's ..
Back in time for the PGA Tour. Seems everyone likes the courses, and the weather is perfect! Low rating for the marshals though...
A few points to consider. 1. Our prices are within a dollar of Whole Foods or Kings. 2. Whole Foods buys at "cost plus" from importers. We do not buy for 5% over cost therefore they are making much bigger profits than a small mom & pop shop is permitted. 3. Compare service and the education and knowledge we give our customers while you stroll around the supermarkets looking for someone to help you. You might find someone but test their knowledge by asking some educated questions. Or simply by pre-wrapped cheese and enjoy the taste of plastic. 4. Compare apples to apples. An example. You can buy Emmi Cave Aged Gruyere from the market, which I also sell, but I also sell Rolf Beeler Gruyere for $30/per lb that the markets don't sell. 5. We're a small shop just trying to survive and not buying just over cost because we aren't powerful enough to demand "cost plus" that Whole Foods does. They put a gun to the distributors heads and if they don't sell "cost plus" they go elsewhere. 6. "Life is too short to buy supermarket Cheese"