No one has been surprised that Gristedes supermarkets have been closing steadily over the past ten years, given the influx of other grocery options and rising rents. But the NY Times has a fascinating article on why Gristedes still manages to exist, despite shrinking in size. Right now, there are 39 Gristedes locations, while there were 78 in 1997, and a supermarket consultant believes that there will be just 25 Gristedes locations in the city.......

The Post and Daily News have a number of editorials and columns about the Deutsche Bank building fire response and fallout. The Post continues to demand FDNY Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta's resignation and faulted Mayor Bloomberg for standing by Scoppetta. The Daily News' Juan Gonzalez wonders why Bloomberg and Scoppetta have gone into "virtual hiding" and blasts Bloomberg for sending lobbyists to kill "legislation that would force tougher enforcement of safety laws by the city......

Aha! The Sun has some feedback from a number of organizations about the Manhattan Mini Storage billboard that proclaims "Your closet space is shrinking as fast as her right to choose" with a big hanger in the image. The ad, which on the storage company's West Side highway space, has been generating much controversy. Naturally, the Catholic League for Religious and Ciivl Rights is outraged: William Donohue told the Sun it was "insulting and highly......

Earlier this afternoon, we watched Scholastic transform Mercer Street between Prince and Spring Streets in "Harry Potter Place" in anticipation of the 12:01AM release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - early reviews be damned! Not only was the Whomping Willow ready, there were owls (stuffed), messages on the Muggle Message Board, and a copy of the book signed by JK Rowling. There were also already people on line to buy the book.......

The Daily News has an exclusive with Jan Gehl, the Danish architect the Department of Transportation would like to hire to help reduce congestion in the city. It's a nice introduction to Gehl, who has worked on congestion-reducing projects in London and Copenhagen, but it also seems like the perfect article to fire up passions. Gehl said, "...we can do is to reduce the number of parking spots. I would raise the price for......

With less than four days until the Apple iPhone finally hits shelves across the country, anticipation is reaching a boiling point. This $600 device (for 8gb, $500 for 4gb) is following the tradition set down by generations (and repeated recently with the PS3), fan boys are starting to amass in the time honored tradition of excessive line waiting. The honor of first in line goes to two gentlemen whom Gizmodo interviewed at the Fifth......

Yes, the MTA scheduled a lot of service advisories for this past weekend. But didn't it seem like the subways were much more screwy than usual? MySpace Polls - Take Our Poll Photograph by Vinnie 716 on Flickr......

Sometimes, a middling restaurant can be where everyone wants to dine - if it has outdoor seating. Last week, WNBC's Andrew Siff had a story on the rise of al fresco dining in the city and had some interesting statistics. And we also liked that al fresco diners use their laptops during dinner. The number of permits for sidewalk cafes has increased from 600 in 2002 to 900 in 2007. Tje Department of Consumer......

The fight between boys at a Queens public school that led to a Sikh classmate's hair being cut off was classified as a hate crime by the authorities. The Queens DA's office and the NYPD gave a few more details. The NY Times reports that 17-year-old Umair Ahmed, a Pakistani student, and Vacher Harpal, a 15-year-old Sikh, "had had an argument and that Vacher had made derogatory comments about Mr. Ahmed’s mother." And though Vacher......

If it's exam time, it must mean that kids are settling down and studying for finals. Or, if they are Columbia freshman, they just might be using a review sheet that essentially gives all the answers to a big exam. A few days ago, Columbia blog The Bwog broke news that a professor had given her students much of what would be on the Literature Humanities final in the form of a review sheet. Hilariously,......

We've seen pet strollers in the SkyMall catalog and wondered who would buy them. We've seen them at pet stores and wondered again who would buy them. But then we've run into people pushing their pets in actual children's strollers, so it's clearly a market opportunity. This week, the Brooklyn Paper examines the phenomenon of stroller dogs and, you know what, it's just as mysterious. Senior dogs are likely candidates, but, then again, so......

Last Friday's Critical Mass with the NYPD's new parade rules (groups of 50 or more must apply for permits) certainly got many of you commenting. For those of you who didn't participate in the ride or see it unfold, our videographer Kelly Loudenberg filed this video. She was even riding in the pedicab with City Councilwoman Rosie Mendez! MySpace Polls - Take Our Poll More coverage from indymedia and the Village Voice.......