By Leslie Albrecht
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
UPPER WEST SIDE — After 12 years in business on Columbus Avenue, card and gift shop Cardeology is closing its doors on Aug. 7.
Owner Richard Barbosa said making monthly rent payments was growing more difficult in a tight economy.
"I always thought I was recession-proof because you can have a good time here for under $100, but we felt (the recession)," Barbosa said.
After Cardeology moves out, commercial brokers Walker Malloy & Company are advertising $22,860 a month for the 1,143 square-foot space. The rent was $10,000 per month when Barbosa opened in 1998, he said.
Barbosa will keep Cardeology's second location on Amsterdam Avenue at West 82nd Street open, but locals said losing the Columbus Avenue store is a blow.
"To me the whole mom and pop aspect of the neighborhood seems to be drying up at an alarming rate," said Mik Keiran, who lives on W. 75th Street.
"It's a shame," Keiran said. "Without these little shops you're losing the spirit and the soul of the neighborhood."
Keiran said he could always count on a warm greeting and friendly service at Cardeology.
At the store on Wednesday, Barbosa advised a shopper about birthday cards for dogs. Another customer told Barbosa she was "heartbroken" about the store's impending closure.
Aside from greeting cards, Cardeology carries gifts such as Crabtree & Evelyn and Thymes bath products and Lake Champlain gourmet chocolates.
The scent of Votivo candles filled the air and soft salsa music played in the background.
"We try to give people an escape from New York," Barbosa said. "I always thought if people feel good, they'll stay and purchase something, so we try to create a nice atmosphere."
Barbosa said when he moved to the Upper West Side in the 1980s, the neighborhood was "part ghetto, part cool."
"There were lots of young people opening cool shops," Barbosa said.
"The landlords saw that, and the rents went sky high. Landlords have a right to make money, but stores like mine, we can't support it."
