UPPER WEST SIDE — Broadway and Columbus Avenue will be buzzing with new java joints and boutiques slated to open in the coming weeks.
Loyal Zabar's patrons may be tempted by a competitor in about two weeks, when City Bakery opens another Upper West Side location of its Birdbath outposts, on Broadway at West 80th Street, owner Maury Rubin confirmed.
Last fall, City Bakery opened Birdbath, which it describes as a "neighborhood green bakery," on Columbus Avenue at West 85th Street. The bakery has an eco-friendly spin, as it's wind-powered and uses cyclists to bring in food from its Downtown City Bakery headquarters.
"The operative difference [from the Columbus location] is this will have a full juice bar, a full espresso bar and seating," Rubin said of the newest outpost.
The company will still use bikes and the subway to transport a full array of takeaway food to the location and will also be adding electric-powered vehicles to the mix this fall.
"There will be sandwiches, salads, soup. There will be lots of pastries," said Rubin, who said the space will be larger than the Columbus Avenue location. "The juice bar will be a significant part of it."
Birdbath follows another new coffee shop, Oren's Daily Roast, which opened just up the street on Broadway between West 83rd and 84th streets in late September, West Side Rag reported.
The stretch of retail on Columbus Avenue between West 73rd and 74th Streets is seeing heavy turnover this fall.
Footlight Shoes at West 74th Street has had a "final week" sale sign posted for at least a couple weeks now, and when it finally closes its doors, the space will become a wine bar, said Barbara Adler, executive director of the Columbus Avenue BID.
At an April Community Board 7 meeting, Rosa Sanchez, a representative for the owner, said the bar, Bocca di Bacco, planned to open on Sept. 1.
Bocca di Bacco's liquor license was approved by the board, and Sanchez said in April the spot has no plans for an outdoor cafe.
The restaurant's owners were not available for comment.
On the same block, the women's clothing boutique A Tempo is moving north by a few storefronts and expanding into a larger space on the north side of West 74th Street at the corner of Columbus Avenue. It will take over what used to be a location of the designer boutique Really Great Things, Adler said.
Adler declined to comment on what's moving into the A Tempo space.
A few doors south on Columbus Avenue, the shoes and accessories store Verve, which has a West Village outpost, is closing.
The space will become Montmartre, an upscale women's clothing store that has branches in Williamsburg and Columbus Circle, Adler said. The Columbus Circle location is currently closed for construction.
The store's opening date was not immediately clear, and employees did not respond to a request for comment.
