Park Slope Openings and Closings: 7th Avenue
Opening in mid-March at 427 7th Avenue is BKLYN Cake Studio.
Janice Pullicino, owner of Naidres Café & Bakery (384 7th Avenue) since 2007, is launching the new spot to focus on her custom cake designs.
Naidres opened 17 years ago as a neighborhood café where most of the items, including the condiments, are made from scratch. A few years back, Pullicino began to experience a surge in requests for custom special occasion cakes.
Her new 300-square-foot outpost on 7th Avenue will be devoted to her artfully crafted cakes of superheroes, Pokemon, Star Wars and Frozen characters. Along with adorable kids’ birthday cakes, Pullicino also designs cakes for weddings, graduations, showers, and all other festive occasions.
Customers-on-the-go will also be able to pick up intricately decorated cupcakes and cookies as well as retro-inspired pastries reminiscent of Hostess cupcakes and Twinkies at her new location.
A fine artist, Pullicino says that “fondant is another palette” for her to work with. She adds that BKLYN Cake Studio is the perfect venue for her to simultaneously work with food and be creative.
Check out Naidre’s Facebook page for more samples of her whimsical designs.
Also coming to 427 7th Avenue, right beside BKLYN Cake Studio, is a branch of the national chain, Waffle Cabin.
Founded in 1998 in Boston and quickly expanding to ski resorts soon after, Waffle Cabin makes freshly baked waffles—served original-style or with chocolate. The waffles are made with a yeast-raised dough instead of batter, as well as pearl sugar that caramelizes inside as the waffles bake, making them sweet and “oh-so-good!”
A post on the shop’s Facebook page delivers this promise: “Bringing these one-of-a-kind Slope-Side waffles to Park Slope, Brooklyn! We guarantee you have never tasted something SO Good!!”
After eight years in Park Slope, Gear to Go Outfitters will close shop on April 15 and move to the Hudson Valley near Beacon.
“We’re not going out of business, we’re just moving and refocusing,” owner Kevin Rosenberg told DNA Info.
“Unfortunately, two record warm Winters piled onto a dramatic shift in how folks shop has made it impossible to maintain a brick & mortar location in Park Slope,” a post on the shop’s Facebook page dated March 1 reads. “We will be focusing our efforts on the areas of our business that made us the most unique, rental gear, adventure travel, and guided trips.”
On a sign posted outside the shop, Rosenberg warns—”Put down your phone and shop at the great local businesses that are available to you now but are struggling,” he wrote. “If your life becomes all about your phone, so will your neighborhood and all that will be left will be real estate offices, nail salons, and banks.”
When asked how he feels about the Park Slope location closing, sales associate Scott Carrothers told BKLYNER, “It’s obviously sad. You want to see small businesses succeed.”
According to DNA Info, Rosenberg launched Gear to Go Outfitters as a website in 2009, then started selling items from a street stand on Seventh Avenue. In 2011 he opened a small, brick-and-mortar shop at 217 Garfield Place. The store’s current location at 159 Seventh Ave. was opened in April 2016.
Everything at the Park Slope location will be on sale at 30 percent off until the store closes.
The store’s Facebook post includes the heartfelt message—”We’ve all enjoyed being a part of the local community and especially loved hearing about your adventures all over the world. All of us here at Gear To Go Outfitters hope that we were able to be a small part of what made those trips possible.”