ARCADE sign on Thor Equities Building on Stillwell Avenue, Coney Island. June 1, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
When the shimmery signs for the new pop-up shops went up on Thor Equities’ retail building on Stillwell Avenue, a sign with larger lettering promising ARCADE and a Steeplechase Park Funny Face, Coney’s symbol of merriment, took center stage. But there is no amusement arcade with coin-operated games in Joe Sitt’s “Retail Ride of a Lifetime” Building in Coney Island. It’s a phantom. The door, decorated with a sign advertising Retail Space Available, leads to a vacant space, maybe 10 by 15 feet, that would fit several machines at the most. Sources tell ATZ the arcade use was required to obtain the C of O for the building from the City. Why not get it up and running? Joey Coney Island’s Arcade! There are actually two of these phantom arcades –one on the Stillwell Ave. side of the Building, the other on Surf next to It’Sugar candy chain.
Before the season got underway, at least three Coney Island amusement operators were approached to put games in the building. Sources say an agreement could not be reached because Thor wanted a high rent and the amusement operators proposed revenue sharing, which is standard for owners of arcade equipment placing machines in restaurants and retail locations. Ironically, all but one of the retail tenants in the new building are believed to have revenue-sharing arrangements in lieu of rent, according to the Coney Island Rumor Mill.
Thor Equities Retail Building at Surf and Stillwell, Coney Island. May 29, 2013. Photo © Tricia Vita/me-myself-i via flickr
On either side of the tiny nonexistent “arcade” are 2,500 square foot retail spaces, the maximum allowed by the Coney Island Rezoning of 2009. However, the zoning requires that “At least 15 percent of the Stillwell Avenue and West 10th Street street frontage of any zoning lot shall be occupied by Use Group A1 uses at the ground floor level.” A measly 15 per cent! “A1” includes amusement arcades as well as open booths with games of skill or chance, such as water racing and shooting galleries, which used to occupy the spot in the demolished Henderson Building where the Brooklyn Nets Shop is now.
Use Group C, which covers retail and service uses, is what we can expect to see more of in Thor’s Coney Island. The pop-up shops include clothing and T-shirt boutiques Wampum NY and Brooklyn Rocks, Coney Island Convenience Shop, and the Brooklyn Nets Shop on the Bowery. Candy retailer It’Sugar on Surf Avenue is believed to have a longer lease.
The next chain store to arrive in Coney Island’s amusement district is Rainbow, which sells clothing for juniors, plus sizes, and children, as well as shoes. They’re set to open on the Stillwell side of Thor’s building, across the street from Nathan’s Famous. The Brooklyn-headquartered retail chain has 28 other stores in Brooklyn and over 1,000 locations nationwide.
Other chains coming to Coney Island are Applebee’s, Johnny Rockets, Red Mango and Checkers franchises, which signed leases with various property owners on the north side of Surf Avenue. Until the early 1980′s that side of Surf was home to individually-owned penny arcades and a variety of rides including bumper cars, carousels and even a Jumbo Jet-style coaster. The last ride on the north side of Surf– Coney Island’s B & B Carousell —closed in 2005 and is now located in the new Steeplechase Plaza on the Boardwalk.
UPDATE June 13, 2013
Nobody ever said life was fair, but the first word that comes to mind here is DESPICABLE. Remember Maritza, who was evicted from Thor Equities soon-to-be demolished Henderson Building in 2010? She’s had a souvenir store in various spots in Coney for oh, about 25 to 30 years. ATZ wrote about her again in April when she moved her gift shop/convenience store into Thor’s Retail Ride of A Lifetime building (“Thor’s Coney Island: Evicted Souvenir Shop Returns to Its Spot,” ATZ, April 19, 2013).
Well, it turns out Maritza is the ONLY one in Thor’s building who is actually paying rent, in the tens of thousands of dollars, too. The veteran shopkeeper was not offered the 15 per cent of sales deal that the brand-name newcomers from small shops like Wampum NYC and Brooklyn Rocks to the chain It’Sugar and the Brooklyn Nets Store were given. Guess we’ll have to go back and update the December post about Joe Sitt’s press release “To Add Local Flavor To Coney Island By Leasing Major Surf Avenue Parcels To Local Brooklyn Merchants At Reduced Rents For 2013.” There’s nobody more local than Maritza. Rip up the lease and give her the break you’re giving everyone else, Joe!
Related posts on ATZ…
June 7, 2013: Coney Flea Market Coming to Childs Building on Boardwalk
December 19, 2012: Will Coney Island’s Surf Ave Become a Mecca for Franchises?
May 4, 2011: Thor Equities Touts Coney Island as “RETAIL RIDE of a LIFETIME”
March 3, 2010: Thor’s Coney Island: What Stillwell Looked Like Before Joe Sitt
Amusing the Zillion 
Coney desperately needs clothing stores. My wife says they are very good. I see them all over the place. Good job Joe!
Coney should have clothing stores on the shopping strip along Mermaid Ave, there are quite a few clothing stores there already. The amusement district should be amusements. Games, Entertainment, Rides, and the like.
There was a Rainbow in the Trump Village shopping center for decades till they closed how many years ago. It doesn’t fit in the amusement zone, No matter what Joe wants. Coney should never be considered a retail zone, but a amusement zone.
.The simple fact is, retail stores can generate much more income from sales, then an arcade or game operations can.
Patrons in retail operations are only limited to spending based upon their credit card limits, and easily swipe hundreds of dollars on a single transaction….
Games of any kind, are limited to pocket change and/or expendable cash, and generally patronage is not driven by the desire to dress oneself up in some new “look at me” fashion.
Game operations MUST be operated under an entertainment budget of the larger complex, in order to be successful.
Games provide an atmosphere, and a reason to come to the area complex…. they are the draw, and should be used as an anchor for development.
Professional game operators can tailor the operations to fit such needs.
You simply cannot expect to lease out retail space and expect a games operation to be able to pay the bills, unless the operation is one that targets scamming games that will seek to take advantage of patrons in effort to grab big money, and give little or no return.
Games should be selling fun and entertainment.
This is a way of operation that was once found in the Amusement Business, but sadly, is all but lost today.
As today’s economic demands press down on operations, entertainment operations can easily be forced upon making money rather then providing fun; it becomes a matter of survival.
It tells a story of who we were, and who we have become as a society
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It is all about zoning laws. Without it, all of New York would be condos and Wal Marts, or whomever can pay the most per square foot in rent.
The city in knowing what makes the Coney Island amusement unique, want to keep it that way. Even though Joe Sitt would make 100’s of millions in profit if he could sell his land as residential zoning, the city is saying no.
Does a arcade establishment like Fabers enhance Coney Island, yes. Can they afford to lease out space in a overpriced space in Sitt’s building, no, does that mean they cant exist anymore? no.
Rainbow – terrific. Cheap, tacky, sweatshop crap. What a great addition to the Island.
who the hell is going to ride all the way down to coney island to buy shoes?
Want to go back to the 80s? That was the absolute low of Coney Island. Bombed-out, graffiti-laden, rat-infested structures. See the movie “Warriors” (1979) to see what CI looked like then. The boardwalk was empty at the height of summer. Nobody came to CI – it was too scary.
But let’s keep the “chains” out at all costs. We need a return to those glorious 80s. I suspect people with such opinions never stepped foot in CI in the 80s. None of you lived here, that’s for sure.
But I have an idea. Lets build a Coney Island of the 80s in YOUR neighborhood , complete with the filth and graffiti. Lets hear your opinion then.
yeah I was around in the 80’s, went to coney every summer and warriors was just a movie you dope. It’s funny how people who where not around back then try to describe NYC because they saw it in the movies.
It is not a question of chains vs mom and pop retail stores, but what type of retail stores belong in the amusement park zone. Here is a excerpt from the CIDC in what they want to see.
Retail and service uses complementary to amusement uses and beach activities such as arts and crafts production and sales, bicycle sales and repair, gift shops, and beach furniture stores. These uses would be limited in size and frontage.
I do not see women’s clothing store listed, does anyone?
As far as the Warriors are concerned. Watch the movie, you see the gang walking down the Bowery only. You cant tell from that one scene what the whole neighborhood looked like. You see rides on the south side of the Bowery. I will admit during the filming, on the north side of the Bowery, between West 12 and Jones Walk, you do see one building in less then good condition, but that building still survives today, except for a portion on West 12 which was fire damaged beyond repair just a couple of years ago.
I lived here all my life. To say the Boardwalk was empty in the summer is to simply lie about the past. It wasn’t.
U are just wrong. U are forgetting what CI in the 80s was. We used to talk about how empty the beaches were. You could walk right up to a cashier at Nathan’s in the height of summer.
You people want to twist facts for your own personal political agendas, I can’t stop you. Fact is, CI now is enjoying a popularity not seen since the 60s, and “chains” help in this revival.
The only chain store that was open prior to Applebees was Popeye’s, and until last year, even they were absent from Coney Island. So your saying from 1980 till this year, you could walk right up to a register at Nathans in the summer? Anyone who ever waited on a 20 minute line for decades at Nathans would wish you were correct.
Funny that you mention the ’80s. Yes, I was here back then *sigh*… Tonight at Coney Island USA: Rock it 80’s style and take back the 80’s, tonight, 9pm, at Burlesque at the Beach! http://shar.es/x1Dum
Thanks everyone for your comments! Just a FYI…the main point of this post is simply that Thor Equities was required to have amusements–a mere 15% frontage–on Stillwell in order to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy for the new retail building.
It’s completely disingenuous that a C of O was obtained from the City based on the sign that says ARCADE where there is none. How hard is it to round up some arcade machines and put them in the tiny space? The amusement parks did it in 24 hours before opening day. What a travesty…
Then he has to hire someone to open/close the place, give out change, pay for electricity, etc… Like this he sneaks in his every place retail that goes against the spirit of the zoning laws.
Talking retail, the REAL retail problem is the row of furniture stores along Surf. There’s a problem to address, not a single structure. It’s taking up about a three block area, from W8 to about what would be w12. I remember when that was a bumbler car ride, custard store, and others 1966!)
The furniture store zoning issues have been on CB13’s radar for years, sadly, unsuccessful. But with Sitt’s plain jane womens retail store opening up, breaking the spirit of the zoning laws doesn’t help.