Alleyway Rejected for Newark Avenue Plan

The long held dream of redeveloping Newark Avenue took a temporary sidetrack last week when council members began pursuing the idea of building a European style paseo between Newark Avenue and Columbus Drive. The land would have been seized through eminent domain and taken advantage of a recently cleared lot -- a summer fire destroyed the historic building that sat on the land.

The council has since rejected the idea though after negative reactions from the community. Newark Avenue is still in need of development. While some restaurants and bars have opened in the last year, many of the store fronts are vacant, while others house discount stores that do little to attract shoppers from outside of the downtown.

Reconstruction of the sidewalks and new lampposts are seen as one way of enticing new stores and shoppers. JC Concstruction posted a photo of the lot.

Knitting Cafe Opens

We Are New makes note that a new downtown cafe and knitting shop has opened on Jersey Avenue. Hipsters rejoice, knit.

Oh, the Carts, the Carts!

Curbed picks up the BJ's Shopping Cart fiasco. BJ's carts still running wild.

BJ's Shopping Carts Litter City

Big Box retailer BJ's Wholesale Club has done nothing about their shopping carts scattered around Jersey City. A thread on JCList began discussing the problem back in May. New York's Sixth exposes half a dozen shopping carts left around the downtown. Yet the plague of bright red shopping carts continues.

Other downtown big box retailers don't seem to have the problem-- A&P, ShopRite, and Target have electronic locking mechanisms on their carts, and PathMark has barriers around their store to prevent escaping carts. Meanwhile, BJ's shopping carts collect in the basements of luxury residential apartment buildings and end up miles from the downtown store.

Perhaps its time to take a cue from the folks down under; an Australian town solved their "trolley" problem by fining merchants $75 for every cart left lying about.

Armani Exchange Coming to Newport Mall

The Life Vicarious writes that Armani Exchange will be coming to Newport Mall, as well as a rumored Ruehl No. 925., an Abercrombie spin off.

Jersey City Clothing Boutique Expanding

Clothing boutique LIFE has temporarily expanded in Hoboken, notes Hoboken411. The small clothing store's original Jersey City location is on Morris Street in Paulus Hook, with a "pop-up" store a the north end of Hoboken, located at 14th Street and Bloomfield Ave.

Downtown Retail Changing Rapidly

Downtown Jersey City retail is under going plenty of changes, notes New York's Sixth. Grocery stores, cafe seating, and art galleries are in. Shoes and electronics are out.

New Downtown Retail

The Life Vicarious updates a few retail changes coming to Jersey City. Coming soon to the Newport Mall is Hollister, a teen clothing company, and Hale & Hearty Soup. In Paulus Hook, two store fronts are being renovated for Citiroots and a baby supply store.

Jersey City U-Haul Requires Land Line, Two Credit Cards

A story on the Consumerist mentions a Jersey City U-Haul rental agency hassling a customer who didn't have a land line telephone number, as though anyone still has one of those, and then demanding a second credit card because a rental truck is "very expensive". No mention as to whether this was the Tonnelle Avenue location or the 14th Street location.