At 3 p.m. on Friday, November 6, the corner of Broadway and West 81st Street gets its coffee back. Eataly Caffè opens at 2252 Broadway in the space Starbucks left in fall 2025. It's the fourth Eataly Caffè in New York City, after the Upper East Side, Hudson Yards and Midtown.
Walk five blocks south and you pass a storefront that has been empty for about five years. Two blocks north of that is one that has been empty for three and a half. Both now have tenants. Between West 76th and West 84th Streets, Broadway's oldest gaps are filling with businesses built around quick, frequent visits: coffee, doughnuts, ice cream and a gym. You stop in on the way to something else, and you come back the next week.
The Corner That Opens November 6
Eataly Caffè will serve coffee made with Eataly's 100% arabica beans, sweet and savory pastries, Roman-style pizza alla pala and grab-and-go meals. For fall it's adding a maple cappuccino, specialty hot chocolates and caramelized-apple bomboloni, according to I Love the Upper West Side. On opening weekend it's handing out free mini hot chocolates and flower bouquets, and the first 100 guests get gifts.
"We are thrilled to bring our Eataly Caffè concept to an iconic corner of Broadway and West 81st Street," Craig Kennedy, president of Eataly North America, said in a statement reported by West Side Rag. Eataly's pre-opening page gives the date. It doesn't yet list daily hours or seating, so plan your first visit around the opening weekend crowd.
Of the spaces in this post, 2252 Broadway had the shortest wait, about a year. The others waited much longer.
How Long These Storefronts Sat Empty
| Address | Former tenant | Empty since | Incoming | Opening |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2167 Broadway, W. 76th to 77th | Beard Papa's | 2021 | Doughnut Plant | "Sometime before the holiday season" |
| Broadway at W. 78th, the former Marshalls | Marshalls | March 2023 | Crunch Fitness | Not announced |
| 2252 Broadway at W. 81st | Starbucks | Fall 2025 | Eataly Caffè | Friday, November 6 |
| 2303 Broadway, W. 83rd to 84th | Kolorbar salon | Not reported | Cold Stone Creamery | "Coming soon" |
| W. 84th and Broadway, in the Henry | None reported | New building | Pura Vida Miami | Not announced |
The cream puff shop at 2167 Broadway closed in 2021, and that storefront has been dark ever since. Doughnut Plant is moving in. The company started in 1994 in a Lower East Side basement, where founder Mark Israel made doughnuts from his grandfather's recipe and delivered them by bicycle. Its doughnuts are certified kosher and vegetarian, with flavors such as apple cinnamon, buttered pecan, and peanut butter and banana cream. CEO John Antretter told West Side Rag that "every single Doughnut Plant store receives fresh doughnuts three to five times a day, and the bakery runs 24 hours a day seven days a week." The only opening window he gave was "sometime before the holiday season," and no firmer date has been announced.
The former Marshalls at West 78th Street is the bigger story. Marshalls let its lease end in March 2023, and the store has been empty since. According to West Side Rag, Crunch Fitness signed a lease in the third quarter of 2026 for the 28,000-square-foot space. That made it the third-largest commercial lease signed in Manhattan from July through September. Crunch already has a club at 162 West 83rd Street, between Amsterdam and Columbus, so this will be its second in about five blocks. No opening date has been given.
Small, Frequent Visits Are Winning the Leases
Look at what the incoming tenants sell. A doughnut, a scoop of ice cream, a cappuccino and a workout are all things you buy often and in small amounts, close to home. These are businesses built on repeat visits. They need steady foot traffic more than they need shoppers who come in once and spend a lot.
Cold Stone Creamery shows the pattern. The chain lists 2303 Broadway as "coming soon," in the former Kolorbar salon. Cold Stone used to have an Upper West Side shop on the south side of West 72nd Street between Broadway and Columbus, and that one closed in 2014. The new shop brings the chain back after about twelve years.
CBRE's figures help explain why this kind of tenant can make the numbers work. In CBRE's Manhattan Retail Figures for Q3 2026, average asking rent on Broadway from 72nd to 86th Street was $250 per square foot. That's up 0.9% from the prior quarter and 2.8% from a year earlier. Across the park, Third Avenue from 60th to 72nd Street averaged $259 in the same quarter, a 17.4% jump from the year before. Upper Madison Avenue averaged $919. Broadway's rent is rising slowly, not spiking. That gives a coffee bar or ice cream counter a cost it can plan around on a block with heavy foot traffic.
The neighborhood as a whole was busy too. CBRE ranked the Upper West Side second among Manhattan neighborhoods for leasing volume in Q3 2026, with more than 50,000 square feet leased in 11 deals, mostly along Broadway and Columbus Avenue. Columbus followed the same food-first pattern. The report lists Mimi's Frozen Yogurt at 221 Columbus Avenue, the Mermaid Inn at 301 Columbus Avenue and Edith's Sandwich Counter at 186 Columbus Avenue.
The Corridor Isn't Full Yet
The same CBRE report counted 14 direct ground-floor spaces available on Broadway between 72nd and 86th Streets in Q3 2026. That's after the Crunch and Pura Vida deals, so there are still plenty of papered windows on the walk.
Some spaces are emptying even as others fill. Blank Street Coffee closed its shop at 2345 Broadway, at West 86th Street, on October 10 and pointed customers to its other nearby locations, West Side Rag reported. A new Eataly Caffè five blocks south doesn't make up for a lost coffee stop at 86th if 86th is your corner.
Other spots are filling only for now. The Cashmere Sale opened October 5 at 2139 Broadway, the former Lululemon at the southwest corner of West 75th Street. It's open daily through December 18. After the holidays, that corner could go back on the market.
At the south end, two long closures are over. Trader Joe's at 2073 Broadway, at West 72nd Street, reopened September 12 after being closed since May 17. In mid-September, West Side Rag reported that the store's escalators and elevator were working on some visits and down on others, so build a little extra time into your grocery runs. Across the street, both elevators at the 72nd Street 1/2/3 station reopened in late September after more than a year of repairs.
A Holiday-Season Walk, South to North
Start at the 72nd Street station and head uptown on the west side of Broadway. In order:
- Trader Joe's, 2073 Broadway at West 72nd. Shop the reopened store first so you're not carrying groceries the whole way.
- The Cashmere Sale, 2139 Broadway at West 75th. Daily through December 18.
- Doughnut Plant, 2167 Broadway between West 76th and 77th. If the doors are still papered when you pass, check back. The company is aiming for the holidays.
- The former Marshalls at West 78th. Crunch Fitness has signed the lease. Watch for build-out signs.
- Eataly Caffè, 2252 Broadway at West 81st. Opens Friday, November 6, at 3 p.m.; the maple cappuccino is on the fall menu.
- Cold Stone Creamery, 2303 Broadway between West 83rd and 84th. Listed as coming soon.
- Pura Vida Miami at West 84th, in the Henry. CBRE lists the lease at nearly 5,000 square feet.
That's about twelve blocks, and of the five incoming tenants, only Eataly Caffè has a firm opening date.
If you own on or near this stretch of Broadway and want to know how the incoming tenants could affect your building's value, Ann Ferguson, LLC can walk the block with you. Schedule a Complimentary Market Evaluation.
