Is This a Very Old Photo of Union Square?

Lots of new tech neighbors, listed here.

The venerable and mysterious antiques store (to the trade only) at University and 11th is gone, leaving a large, high-windowed space that could become anything from a restaurant to a boutique. Time will tell.

An update from the Farmer’s Market:

The time has come to flex your Winter Warrior muscles! Each year, from January through March, Greenmarkets across the city participate in the Winter Warrior Challenge. If you shop at the market during the coldest months of the year, you can win a prize (and Winter Warrior bragging rights!)!

It’s simple to participate and fun for the whole family! All you need to do is stop by any Greenmarket Market Info Tent to pick up your Winter Warrior card. Then, every time you shop at the Greenmarket between January and March, visit the Info Tent to get your card stamped.

Shop ten times before March 31st and win a small Greenmarket prize plus an entry into our raffle for one of our grand prizes. For details, grand prize announcements, and more, follow us at @unsqgreenmarket on Instagram!

The latest gossip from The Villager:

While the fate of two prime-time storefronts on the south side of Union Square has yet to be determined, recent whispers have indicated that more big-box stores could be headed for the space currently occupied by a pair of retail behemoths.

Electronics retailer Circuit City, which filed for bankruptcy late last year, will shutter its location on 14th St. at Fourth Ave. at the end of next month as part of plan to auction off all its properties and leases nationwide.

A sales associate at the store said that Walmart was interested in the space, which is owned by developer The Related Companies, although a New York-based spokesperson for Walmart said the big-box chain currently has no announced projects in the city.

Best Buy, which has a store less than a mile away on W. 23rd St., is another name that has been floated as a future tenant. A company spokesperson said the electronics-and-entertainment retailer does not currently have any plans for the site and could not speculate on potential deals.

Rumors have also swirled for months over the possible departure of the adjacent Virgin Megastore, where Related — which owns a controlling interest of the Virgin stores — is also the landlord.

“We’ve made no decision about that property,” Related spokesperson Joanna Rose told Mixed Use, echoing her statements to this paper from last May regarding Virgin’s long-speculated exit. However, Rose did confirm that brokerage Winick Realty Group continues to handle the leasing assignment for the nearly 60,000-square-foot property.

A spokesperson for the Union Square Partnership did not have any information on who could open in either space, where brokers have pegged asking prices for the marquee addresses at upward of $300 to $350 per square foot.

After more than 15 years, the very first location of Crunch Fitness is closing on March 16. All members will be directed either to the new and much larger branch at 4th Ave. and 12th St. or the Lafayette St. branch.

You may have noticed construction work speeding along at the corner of 13th St. and 4th Ave. This is to be an 11-story, 162-room hotel in the medium price range. It’s being built by Sam Chang, the king of New York hotel development. He’s famous for finding ways to squeeze hotels onto tiny lots. In this case he’s keeping the facade of the former building as a kind of pedestal. Unusually sensitive for a developer who is usually accused of having no architectural taste whatsoever.