Eco-Friendly Store Sustainable NYC Has Closed, Adding to the East Village's Rough Year

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It's been a veritably rough year for East Village retailers, with legendary punk store Trash & Vaudeville leaving its home of 40 years (though thankfully, it's expected to reopen in Alphabet City), the closure of vintage boutique Dusty Buttons, the continued struggles of St. Mark's Bookshop, the fact that the first store in that giant Astor Place building will be a womp-worthy CVS, and of course, Enz's Boutique, which was forced out of its home following the explosion on Second Avenue. And now, Sustainable NYC has closed, too.

EV Grieve reports that after seven years on Avenue A and Ninth Street, the eco store-slash-café is no more as of Friday, when workers were seen clearing out the space. Owner Valeria Patterson wrote, "I would love to keep going but we didn't have an agreement with the former owner. I wanted to run the store for many years more," adding that business had "trailed off" this year.

The blog also notes that the space is now one of four vacant storefronts between just 139 Avenue A and 147 Avenue A—no word on what could replace any of them yet.