Toy store chain Toys “R” Us filed for bankruptcy protection last September, and it has been downhill ever since. Today, the company informed 33,000 employees it would be selling or closing all of its 700 U.S. stores, according to published reports. In addition, Toys “R” Us said today it would close its 75 remaining stores in the U.K., CNN reported, after failing to find a buyer to save it from insolvency administration, which is similar to bankruptcy. (It already closed 25 stores in Britain.) Stores in New York State include a Babies “R” Us at 24-30 Union Square East and a Babies “R” Us at 139-19 20th Avenue in College Point, Queens.

From the paper:

A new tech hub, which had its land use application approved on Feb. 27, is one step closer to coming to Union Square — between NYU’s Palladium Residence Hall and University Residence Hall. The new facility, currently branded as the Union Square Tech Hub, would replace the recently vacant 124 E. 14th St. address that P.C. Richard & Son formerly occupied.

Mayor Bill de Blasio advocated for the construction of the hub early last year, but approval has been met by opposition from local community groups concerned of overdevelopment.

On one hand, NYU supports the building addition but it has no part in the hub’s construction besides the neighboring walls of two of its residence halls.

“NYU hasn’t had any direct involvement in the project,” university spokesperson John Beckman wrote in an email. “However, we have supported the overall efforts to strengthen [New York City’s] science, tech and innovation economy, from the creation of our own Center for Urban Science and Progress to the development of 370 Jay St. as a tech hub in downtown Brooklyn to Tandon’s [Tandon School of Engineering’s] stewardship of several incubators. The Union Square Tech Hub is meant to advance NYC’s [New York City’s] tech economy, and that’s an objective NYU supports.”

The hub would generate 600 jobs and would feature office spaces for startup tech companies, according to the mayor’s office.

After serving 13th St. and the neighborhood for more than 30 years, BC Laundry has suddenly closed, so suddenly in fact that clothes are trapped inside. Good luck!

Weird that Il Laboritorio del Gelato has chosen to open at 56 University Place on the corner of 10th Street, directly across from Amorino, but so it goes.

Bar Bacon will soon open in the space on the east side of 4th Ave. between 12th and 13th formerly occupied by Royal Bar. So if you like bacon….

Reports are in about how 13th St. and 14th St. may change when the L train shuts down for 15 months. Some amazing details, most notably the creation of the city’s first protected two-way bike lane running the entire length of 13th St. Hard to imagine what it will be like in reality.

Read more here. 

Not that the area needed another high-end coffee pourer, but here comes Blue Bottle Coffee, on University between 12th and 13th.

Here’s the southwest corner of the square in the early ’80s, the site of the former SKlein department store and now the site of Zeckendorf Towers.