By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
GREENWICH VILLAGE – Famous Manhattan hot dog vendor Papaya King has shuttered its Greenwich Village location, according to store management.
Papaya King on 14th Street and Seventh Avenue is all boarded up after closing for business last week.
“We grew pretty entrenched on that corner,” Papaya King’s president and CEO Daniel Horan said Wednesday. “We’re sorry to go.”
The store, which has been on the corner for six years, was placed on the market in January, according to Eater.
Papaya King’s flagship location has been on 86th Street and Third Avenue since 1932. However, locals said the Greenwich Village store felt like it's been there just as long because of the high-visibility location.
“I’m surprised it has closed,” said Patricia Billy, 51, who works in the neighborhood. “It feels like it’s been here forever.”
Horan said bad business teamed with a tough real estate market was the major culprit to the closure.
“It’s very expensive to do business in New York,” said Horan. “Rents are very difficult in New York, especially with the taxes.”
Closure of major shopping venues in the area didn’t help, he added. Rite Aid recently shuttered next door and Circuit City in Union Square.
"People need to be in a shopping mood," Horan said. "You need big electronic stores or clothing stores to get people in a spending mood."
Gas inflation and the raw cost of food also took its toll, forcing the brand to up its prices in recent years.
Papaya King charged $2 for a hot dog at the venue, up from $1.39 at Manhattan-based Papaya King locations 10 years ago. The cost of two franks and a 16-ounce drink at the location was $4.65, according to store management.
“The hot dogs had great taste and price that you can’t really find any more," said Renee Henry, who came to the store nearly every weekend. “The closure makes me sad."
The store’s shuttering follows a spate of hot dog shop closures. Clinton Papaya, a Gray’s Papaya competitor, closed last year, along with Papaya del Barrio in Harlem and Papaya Dog in Washington Heights.
Gray’s Papaya, which is owned by different managers from Papaya King, has had its own troubles, with the founder, Nicholas Gray, reluctantly raising prices in the recession.
“My prices are very low and my rents are very high, so I have a problem,” Gray told the New York Times. He raised his “recession special” of two hot dogs and a drink last month from $3.50 to $4.45.
Despite the grim outlook for business, Horan said the reign of Papaya King is far from over.
“We’re not going anywhere,” he said. “We’re moving forward.”
