BY GABE HERMAN | After Union Square staple The Coffee Shop closed last October after 28 years in business, a picture has started to form of some of the shops slated to fill the former Brazilian-American restaurant’s space.
The ground-floor property, at E. 16th St. and Union Square West, will be split into four retail spaces. One of them will be filled by a new location for by CHLOE, the popular vegan eatery, according to Eater. The interior of by CHLOE will reportedly honor The Coffee Shop’s legacy, such as by featuring curved banquette seating, and an homage to the diner’s neon sign.
A fast-casual restaurant, by CHLOE has been expanding a great deal lately, after its first location opened in the Village in 2015, at the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal Sts. That location is still going strong. A bakery offshoot, Sweets by CHLOE, opened the following year next door at 185 Bleecker.
The business is expanding globally and around the U.S., including six more Manhattan locations. Last week another by CHLOE opened at 1385 Broadway, at W. 38th St., and in October its first takeout-only location will come to Lexington Ave. and E. 54th St., according to Eater.
The new Union Square location will reportedly open this December. Another space that was part of The Coffee Shop will become a Chase bank branch. The other two commercial spaces reportedly will be filled by other restaurants, which have not been announced yet.
Gail Fox, the former co-chairperson of the Union Square Community Coalition, said she did not understand the need for another Chase bank in the area, unless it was a convenient pop-up size, but that she was pleased with the news about by CHLOE.
“I am looking forward to CHLOE’s opening in The Coffee Shop space,” Fox said. “Sounds like they will add vibrancy to the square and will preserve and respect The Coffee Shop memory and artifacts — a themed space, plus tasty vegan.”
