Ray's Candy Store Awning

The awning of the beloved Ray's Candy Store, on Avenue A, must have been cursed by a gypsy!

This is what the awning looked like after its renovation, back in July:

Clean and new.

This is what it looked like yesterday:

Grimy — paint peeling off.

I thought maybe the grime was running down the fire escape ladder, but then I remembered that there's a hole in the top of the awning, to allow the ladder to extend down to the sidewalk, and any drippings would pass through it:

Fire escape ladder hole.

Hmmm.

It looks like this curse is worse than I suspected.

At least the curse doesn't extend to their Department of Health Sanitation Inspection grade!

Grade A.

#eastvillage #rayscandystore #firehazard #fireescapes #awnings #sanitationinspectiongrade

Ray's Candy Store Update

Speaking of the beloved Ray Candy Store, I was walking up Avenue A this past Saturday, when I noticed something new about their new awning. Specifically: Ray is possessive again!

Possessive again.

It's not the way I'd have done it, and it only affects the name of the store — the fried oreos are still plural!

I also noticed that the awning is taking on the corroded look that the old one suffered from:

Corroded look.

You just can't win for losing!

#eastvillage #rayscandystore #awnings #avenuea #signs

The New Ray Candy Store

Now that the shock has begun to subside, it's time to examine the recent changes wrought upon the beloved Ray Candy Store on Avenue A.

I'll start by saying that I don't dislike the green, but why oh why did they have to paint everything the same color?!

With all the artists that reside in the East Village, they should have had a contest to submit ideas for the renovation. People would have lined up for the chance to do this, and not charged a dime!

I hate to say this, but it was better before. It was shabby, but it was a calm shabby — it looks like a giant Sour Patch Kids package now!

Well, there goes my chance of being unbanned from their Twitter feed!

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore #renovations #twitter #shabby

Wonder of Wonders

As I wrote in A Moveable Famine, after viewing the squalor that is Avenue A between St. Mark's Place and East 9th Street today, I walked down one block, only to see what I thought I would never see in my lifetime: the beloved Ray's Candy Store renovated their storefront!

Look, and be amazed:

Amazing.

And what's that? They changed the name of the store?!

Introducing: Ray Candy Store!

Ray Candy Store.

Unfortunately, they kept that ratty, wooden thing in front.

Ratty, wooden thing.

It looks like this was done with spray-paint — you can tell by where there was no drop cloth! They kept part of the old blue color too — no telling why.

Now that they finally fixed the place up, as I've been advising for two years, I wonder if they will un-ban me from their Twitter feed?

Seems like the decent thing to do, don't you think?

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore #renovations #awnings #twitter

Tompkins Square Park Sleep-Over – Day 1

After a false start, due to the wrong start date/time being advertised on the organizers' Facebook page, the Tompkins Square Park sleep-over began last night!

The event opened with a shopping trip to the beloved Ray's Candy Store, on Avenue A:

Ray's Candy Store, where people bought ice cream and french fries at midnight.

I'm not sure how many people slept overnight on East 7th Street — the organizers' Facebook page said 314 people would attend. This was the scene this morning:

East 7th Street, towards Avenue B.

East 7th Street, towards Avenue A.

Practicing the principle of "leave no trace"… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #7thstreet #avenuea #campnewyorkpost #rayscandystore #tompkinssquarepark

Ray's New Signs

Another great leap forward in the East Village! After recently cleaning their awning, the beloved Ray's Candy store has started taking down the old signs and started putting up much nicer ones.

Witness:



I'm glad to see someone there has started using some sense, and stopped following the advice of those who would keep Ray's Candy Store looking so dumpy!

I, for my part, accept their apologies graciously!

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore #signs

Ray's Clean Awning

What a time to be without a camera — new things are happening all over the East Village, and I can only record them on video!

Take a look at this, if you will. The beloved Ray's Candy Store's awning is clean!:


Who would have ever expected this? It needs a bit of retouching; I suppose that will take another year!

Now that they cleaned their awning, I wonder if they'll un-ban me from their Twitter feed?

Next on the agenda: remove that blue thing from in front of the store!

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore

Cigarette Price War — Day 116

It's Day 116 in the Avenue A Cigarette Price War, and the competition shows no sign of letting up!

I walked by the competing stores this morning on my way to work, and saw that Avenue A Classic Food, the newcomer cigarette-price upstart, had removed their cigarette price sign:

Cigarette price sign removed.

It was only eleven short days ago that their sign advertised their new low price — now, nothing.

Ray's Candy Store, directly next door, still has no sign up, since taking theirs down sign last December:

Cigarette signless since December.

That leaves Kasadoro (formerly Sahara) Deli-Grocery as the only store on this block advertising cigarettes, and they've come down $0.50!

Cigarettes $12.00.

Where will it end?! Stay tuned… to the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuea #avenueaclassicfood #rayscandystore #kasadorodeligrocery #cigarettes

Danger Sign

I passed by Ray's Candy Shop on Avenue A last week, and saw this Danger sign in front:

Danger sign in front of Ray's.

I thought for sure that work had commenced to clean Ray's awning! But no, it was something else, or else nothing.

Signs sometimes just get up and move themselves… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #rayscandystore #signs #avenuea

New Scaffolding on Avenue A

It seems every time I turn around, something new is happening on Avenue A between East 7th Street and St. Mark's Place! Today there is new scaffolding!

OK, maybe this didn't happen today, but I saw it today:

Scaffolding up on Avenue A.

I don't know if this is the reason the scaffolding went up, but beneath it there is work being done on what was once the Odessa Cafe:

Former Odessa Cafe.

This is great news for Ray's Candy Shop — no longer will they be situated near empty and decrepit-looking storefronts!

The days are drawing near when they're going to have to wash that awning though!

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore #scaffolding #7thstreet #stmarksplace

The Shunning of East Village Today

You wouldn't think a blog like East Village Today would have enemies — everyone loves East Village Today! Everyone except:

EV GRIEVE

EV Grieve is the name of a blog. According to a recent post, it's been around for seven years. It was named the best neighborhood blog by one of the free, weekly newspapers.

Why does EV Grieve shun East Village Today? Who knows? I can only tell you what happened.

I started this blog back in August of this year. I have two rules about posts here and comments elsewhere: I never complain; and I never argue with commenters.

As soon as I started posting comments on the EV Grieve blog, I came under immediate attack by other commenters. I refused to respond. Soon, one of them suggested that I was a "bot". A bot! Right away, the EV Grieve blogger implemented the captcha device, which requires commenters to enter words or numbers before the comment can be submitted. This device prevents automated comments from bots.

Of course, since I am not a bot, I continued commenting. Once he saw that, he banned all of my comments. He also banned me from viewing his tweets on Twitter. That was in November.

That's one. The other is:

RAY'S CANDY STORE

I've written a couple of times that Ray's should clean their awning. This is the picture of their awning from their Twitter page (dated 2012):

Ray's Candy Store awning, quite clean.

This is what it looked like on December 29:

Ray's Candy Store awning, covered in filth.

Lately, I've been writing about the competition that's risen between Ray's and Avenue A Classic Food, a store that recently opened next door. Then, the other night, I wanted to check Ray's Twitter page, and I found that I was banned from it! The last tweet of mine that shows up beneath one of theirs is dated December 4, so it happened some time after that.

That's it. There might be others, but they're not people/blogs I follow, so I'm not aware of them. Even these two are hardly worth mentioning, but since it's the end of the year, the time when people tie up loose ends, I decided I'd dispense with it.

But this is East Village Today — East Village Today doesn't look back!

So stay cool, East Village, and get ready for an awesome 2015!

#eastvillage #evgrieve #rayscandystore #signs #twitter

New Twist in Avenue A Cigarette Price War

A new twist has emerged in the Avenue A cigarette price wars!

For a quick update: read this.

I was walking up Avenue A the other day, when I saw this:

Cigarettes 12.50.

The Sahara Deli, a little further up Avenue A from Rays and Classic Food, now sells cigarettes for $12.50!

I'm sure they're not trying to position themselves between Ray's and Classic Food, as the moderate alternative. They probably see their customers as coming down from St. Mark's Place rather than up from East 7th Street, and willing to spend the extra 50¢ to save the time and effort of walking through the derelict section of Avenue A, to the end of the block:

Derelict section of Avenue A, below Sahara Deli.

It's funny, the thinking that goes into something like pricing cigarettes… in the East Village Today!

#eastvillage #avenuea #avenueaclassicfood #cigarettes #rayscandystore #saharadeli

Why Did the Bird Cross Avenue A?

To save a dollar on cigarettes!

I'm gonna save me a dollar!

#eastvillage #avenuea #rayscandystore #avenueaclassicfood

The Price War Has Begun

I was walking up Avenue A this morning when I saw that the newly-opened store, Avenue A Classic Food, had their window full of signs:

Window full of signs, and cigarettes.

Who is going to stand there and read all of that?!

But then I saw it — the sign at the bottom/center:

All cigarette $12.

The price war has begun!

As you may remember, Ray's Candy Store, which is right next door, sells cigarettes for $13:

This picture is from November 23.

Today, Ray's window looked like this:

The cigarette sign is gone, but they now sell quesadillas!

This is the kind of competition East Villagers love — "I'm not going to pay a lot for this… pack of cigarettes!"

#eastvillage #rayscandystore #avenuea #avenueaclassicfood #cigarettes

Ray's New Neighbor

The opening of Avenue A Classic Food on Avenue A should prove to be a real boon for Ray's Candy Store, next door:

Ray's Candy Store's new neighbor.

Until today, Ray's straddled the line between the businesses that are open (but look closed) and businesses that are closed:

With this grand opening, Ray's is now squarely in the group of businesses that are open — it's a great day for the East Village!

#eastvillage #avenuea #avenueaclassicfood #rayscandystore,

Ray's Cigarette Shop

If you haven't already figured it out, my two favorites places in the whole East Village to take pictures of are: the West Virginia building and fence on East 9th Street; and Ray's Candy Store.

But today, I was shocked to discover that Ray's sells cigarettes!

Here's a close-up:

All cigarettes are $13.

What sort of candy store sells cigarettes?! I wonder if he has all the necessary signs hanging up in the store?

Required sign.

#eastvillage #rayscandystore #avenuea #cigarettes

Ray's Messed-Up ATM Sign

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but one of the ATM signs hanging on the awning of Ray's Candy Store, on Avenue A, is messed up:

Messed-up ATM sign.

It seems some people in the East Village don't care for Ray's Candy Store, or they wouldn't desecrate his ATM sign.

East Villagers are an unruly lot!

#eastvillage #rayscandystore avenuea signs

Activity at Ray's

I don't think I've ever seen anyone use the window at Ray's Candy Store before. Even here, I think the woman at the window wasn't buying anything, but just talking to the person on the other side.

Woman at Ray's Candy Store window.

I was so excited to see someone using this window that I completely neglected to notice that the store beside Ray's, that had been vacant in previous pictures, was now showing signs of activity.

It looks like we'll soon be able to get paninis, wraps, smoothies, and fresh juice!

So Ray's will no longer be the starting point of the derelict area, but they should still get rid of that trashy thing in front. Seriously!

Ray's Candy Store, Revisited

I passed by Ray's Candy Store again yesterday, and noticed something I didn't notice the last time I was there. Not only is Ray's a mess, but it's adjacent to a stretch of empty storefronts, making it appear to be an even bigger mess.

On the other side of Ray's is a restaurant. If Ray's would fix itself up, it would look as if it belonged on that side of the divide, but because they don't, it looks like it belongs on the squalid side, and that can't be good for business.

Ray's Candy Store

There's a candy store on Avenue A called Ray's Candy Store. At least, that's the name — it doesn't specialize in candy. It sells lots of stuff, and people seem to like it — it gets good reviews from Yelp.

I've only been in twice. Once I got an egg cream, and the other time I got an ice cream cone.

The only issue I take with this store is that it looks like a dump:

There's no reason for it to look this way. Get rid of that piece of garbage in front, take down the hand-made signs, clean the place up a bit…

I bet his sales would improve over night if he did that, or had someone do it for him, in exchange for some ice cream, and maybe some Belgian fries.