By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — From the outside, Columbus Natural Food market at W. 95th and Columbus Avenue is a well-kept storefront with a cheery red awning.
Inside, neighbors say, beats the heart of a neighborhood, one they worry is about to be ripped out.
The store's landlord, The Witkoff Group, wants to tear down the store, a neighboring Chinese restaurant and Subway sandwich shop to make way for a larger retail development.
Columbus Natural Food's customers are rallying to save the small business. They say it's a prime example of an endangered species on the Upper West Side: a friendly mom-and-pop store that adds character to the neighborhood.
They worry that such stores are being replaced by big-box chains, such as the new Whole Foods a few blocks north.
"It's a lovely little neighborhood, and it's starting to be over-run," said Jonathan Olken, 66, a writer and 30-year resident of the area who lives on W. 96th Street. "Now it's starting to look like Midtown. I like Midtown for what it is, but I don't want it up here."
Olken is among the nearly 4,000 supporters who signed a petition backing Columbus Natural Food, which has been in business almost 17 years.
Community Board 7 voted against The Witkoff Group's proposal in June, but the city's planning commission has the final say on the issue. They could vote on the matter on July 12, said store owner Anne Cottavoz, but the agenda for the meeting hasn't been released yet.
The Witkoff Group could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.
Spend time with Cottavoz in her store and it's easy to see how she's won so many supporters.
Cottavoz, 48, greets some customers by name and hugs others. With soft music playing in the background and the scent of aromatherapy candles in the air, she happily dispenses advice on the best homeopathic remedies for various ailments.
"What she has done for this community is really extraordinary," said Catherine Unsino, a 69-year-old resident of nearby Park West Village. "It was a dismal place where people didn't know each other. But (Anne and her husband) have really promoted community."
Cottavoz says couples have met and fallen in love at her store. She says larger stores don't provide a warm atmosphere that make people feel at home.
"Eventually, it's about the choice of what kind of society we are going to live in," Cottavoz said of the battle to save her store. "If you have no more small stores, you have no more social interaction and no more places for people to meet. With larger stores, you get impersonal service."
