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CityMaps Hopes Online Searches Can Help Second Ave. Shops

By Amy Zimmer | July 19, 2011 7:41pm
CityMaps aggregates data from several other sites to create a one-stop shop for business information.
CityMaps aggregates data from several other sites to create a one-stop shop for business information.
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CityMaps.com

MANHATTAN — A new website is aiming to help struggling businesses hurt by the Second Avenue subway construction by letting local merchants broadcast their happy hours, cashmere sweater sales or other information on an interactive map in real time,

CityMaps' founders want businesses across the city to use the site as a sort of digital sidewalk blackboard, but they're making a special effort to reach out to stores in the path of the subway construction.

"We are encouraging the Second Avenue merchants to sign up," said Nancy Ploeger, president of the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, which is working with CityMaps on the outreach. "We hope that the additional exposure that CityMaps can bring to the beleaguered merchants and restaurants along the Second Avenue subway construction corridor will help drive more customers to them."

CityMaps, which had its soft launch last month, is a one-stop destination, aggregating Twitter feeds, menus, reviews, ratings, restaurant reservations, movie tickets and parking rates from such sites as Yelp, Citysearch, Fandango, Groupon, Facebook and more. 

Elliot Cohen, the founder and CEO of CityMaps — who attended the private school Dalton on the Upper East Side before attending Cornell and then getting an MBA from Columbia — said he is acutely aware of how the Second Avenue businesses are struggling. He currently lives on Second Avenue in the East 60s, where the tunnel blasting is now happening. 

"It's a disaster," Cohen said of shops obscured by construction. "In terms of presence, there's nothing they can do. They can't even put a sign in their windows that people will see."

Ploeger said the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce plans to include CityMaps on its own site. The Shop 2nd Avenue site also plans to use CityMaps' maps, she said.

"We want to spread the word throughout Manhattan," Ploeger added, "but just at beginning stages of getting the word out."

John Nelson, owner of Manny's on Second — in the heart of the subway construction — welcomed any focus on the area.

"On Saturdays and Sundays, there's no foot traffic on Second Avenue," Manny's owner John Nelson said. "Nobody strolls in a construction zone."

Since it costs nothing to use CityMaps, he said, "It was a no-brainer to say yes."

"I like the map. It was nicely designed and a clever idea," Nelson said. "The question is: Will it gain traction?"

Cohen has been working on the project for more than three years and received a $1 million angel investment in November. The company is currently working on a mobile app and is planning to launch in Boston, San Francisco and 50 college towns over the summer with more cities in the fall.

Cohen said roughly 4,000 to 5,000 businesses are using the site at any given time across the city, and he has been working with the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce on reaching out to Second Avenue stores.

The company doesn't charge businesses it features on the site — yet.

Cohen said they will eventually start charging, but that's still some years away.  Right now, the company hopes to make money from fees to real estate and tourism companies that use its multilayered map on their websites.

The company is still building on "the grassroots level," Cohen said, but he's said feedback has so far been positive. 

"We are pulling in content from Twitter and Groupon, but instead of 10 Twitter followers, this can be seen by 5,000 people, and store owners who have to wait for Groupon for six months can have their own little sale," Cohen said.

"It doesn't matter if you're the Gap or a newsstand," he added. "You're going to have a place on the map and can speak in real time to potential customers. You can imagine this becoming something like the Twitter for businesses."