Certified Open: Vive La Crepe

Next up in the new retail strip on the west side of University Place between 12th and 13th is Glaze, which will offer vaguely Asian fusion bowls, like this:

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.

Not exactly Occupy Wall Street, but this is what Union Square looked like on Labor Day 1882. Fun parade.

Tacos will soon arrive at the northern end of Union Square when the very popular Los Tacos No. 1 opens its ninth location, this one at the corner of Park Ave. South and 17th St.

According to a report from Crain’s New York:

Foot traffic is stepping up in Union Square. The area now sees 11% more visitors on summer Fridays than it did in 2012, according to a recent survey conducted by the Union Square Partnership, the neighborhood’s business improvement district. After counting pedestrians and using data from subway turnstiles, the BID estimates that 383,000 people are in Union Square on a Greenmarket Friday.

“Union Square has it all,” crowed Jennifer Falk, executive director of the BID, in a statement, referring to the park, transit options, shops and the Greenmarket.

In recent months, the neighborhood has also drawn a variety of retailers—from Brooklyn doughnut shop Dough to classic outdoor-clothing brand Eddie Bauer. E-commerce brand Rent the Runway also set up a showroom in the area last fall. According to the BID, Union Square has a ground-floor retail vacancy rate of 2.9%, though several spaces are currently on the market.

Retail rents in the area are pricey and rising. Dylan’s Candy Bar signed a deal for 3,300 square feet at 33 Union Square West, a spot formerly held by Puma, for $545 a square foot in the fall, for example. Such rents have pushed out several longtime retailers, including Union Square Café. The Danny Meyer-owned restaurant announced over the summer it will be vacating its space on East 16th Street after three decades. When Mr. Meyer opened the eatery in 1985, he reportedly paid around $50,000 a year in rent—that price has jumped to $650,000.