Just in time for the expected Mermaid Parade, Friday Night Fireworks and Coney Island Boom A Ring crowds, a gift shop and a newsstand have opened in the Stillwell Terminal. The new shops join Dunkin’ Donuts/Baskin Robbins and Bank of America in the reconstructed subway station, which opened in 2005. The gift shop proprietors also operate a souvenir stand on Stillwell Avenue and have a storeroom full of stock for the upcoming weekend.
Yet to open in the station are a Subway sandwich shop, the Lola Staar Boutique, and a branch of the Coney Island Beach Shop, whose main store is behind Nathan’s. The Coney Island Rumor Mill is sayin’ construction delays are due to leakage in the terminal when it rains as well as the fact that some tenants had to revise their architectural plans or change architects to comply with the MTA’s stringent review process.
The Brooklyn Paper reported last week that “MTA bureaucrats had trapped the Lola Staar boutique in their own black hole” for six months. An MTA spokesman told the paper that the department overseeing the plans was backlogged. On the day the article was published, the transit authority finally reviewed the architect’s plans and asked for changes. Stay tuned!
Lola Staar owner Dianna Carlin had hoped to open in the Stillwell Terminal this summer after being evicted from her Boardwalk store by Thor Equities. Instead Carlin has set up her boutique in the Dreamland Roller Rink on the Boardwalk at 21st Street. This weekend a selection of “vintage, rare Lola Staar tees from the glittering Boardwalk vaults” will be on sale for only $10. The Lola Staar Shop is open to the public on Fridays from 7-11 pm, Saturdays from 1 pm to 12 am, and Sundays from 1-7 pm.
Visit the Coney Island Fun Guide for links to Coney Island’s shops and restaurants, including some that are open year round.
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