business

Breaux Mart taking a day off on Sunday

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The Breaux Mart at 3233 Magazine St., along with the others in the local supermarket chain, will be closed Sunday (March 29) to give its employees a rest, according to posts on the store’s social media accounts. While most employees will get a chance to sleep late and put their feet up for a while, crews will be working behind the locked doors on some deep cleaning, sanitizing and restocking, store managers say. Breaux Mart has also won praise for its finesse in the art of social distancing. The store has reserved the 8 to 9 a.m. hour on Tuesdays for shoppers ages 60 and up.

business

‘Most people won’t survive’: Local stores grapple with economic effects of coronavirus

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By Sharon Lurye, Uptown Messenger

The economic effects of coronavirus reverberated across New Orleans on Monday, with local store owners describing feelings of bewilderment and anxiety as they considered how the virus would affect their bottom line. While some are cautiously optimistic, others have despaired of being able to keep their business alive through the pandemic. “If it lasts for months, then most people won’t survive,” said Bettye Barrios, owner of the home goods store Aux Belles Choses on Magazine Street. “We’ve been here 29 years and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Just one customer entered Barrios’ shop on Monday. She sells linens, soaps, and gifts, many imported from France and England, but she had to cancel an upcoming business trip to Europe.

events

Poydras Home to host inaugural holiday tree lighting event

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Poydras Home’s Magazine Street gate will open wide this Thursday as they welcome patrons and the public to their first Holiday Tree Lighting & Music Festival. From 7 to 8 p.m., this new Uptown tradition will feature a 30 foot lighted tree and holiday music on their front lawn, as well as a patron party from 6 to 8 p.m.

Everyone is welcome, free of charge, to hear holiday favorites and gospel music performed by the New Orleans Council on Aging Community Choir under the direction of Mrs. Rhea Dokes. CC’s Coffee House will provide hot cocoa provided, and Cookies will be compliments of Poydras Home for patrons, residents, resident families, neighbors and guests alike. The music begins at 7 p.m., and the majestic 30-foot tree will be lit at 7:30 p.m.

The Patron Party will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. inside Poydras Home’s historic 1857 Hall. It will feature musical entertainment by the New Orleans Center For Creative Arts (NOCCA) jazz and vocal students led by Vocal Coach Anne Sumich.

business

Coast Roast Coffee opening Friday on Magazine

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Coast Roast Coffee Shops is opening a new, stand-alone location Uptown on Magazine Street. The shop is ready for a Friday, Oct. 18, opening, owner Kevin Pedeaux said. The Coast Roast brand has been served for the past decade in businesses around town, and from its coffee shops in two of the city’s markets. To help celebrate Friday’s opening, Honduran farmers who supply coffee beans to Coast Roast will visit the shop from 5 to 8 p.m..

business

Brother’s Three Lounge on Magazine Street ‘closed until further notice’ after owner’s death

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Nicholas Reimann, Uptown Messenger

Brothers Three Lounge, long known as the Magazine Street dive bar with low ceilings and a mustard-yellow exterior, is closed until further notice following the death of its owner. This weekend, a sign was placed in the door simply saying, “closed until further notice” and below those words “sorry.” A padlock made sure the door was kept shut. The bar hasn’t served drinks since Saturday, when its owner John Silvy Jr. died at the age of 85, according to the online obituary service Dignity Memorial. On Wednesday, flowers and a handwritten note were left at the bar entrance. “We will miss you Mr. Johnnie R.I.P.,” the note read, followed up with “B 3 4 ever” and “Love, Michelle.”

In an era where drinking on Magazine Street is becoming more synonymous with heading to bright, modern spaces to savor specialty cocktails, Brothers Three — also written out as Brothers III — kept things simple, and anything but pretentious.

business

Champagne Stroll: Magazine Street to host 9th annual shopping event

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The Magazine Street Merchants Association will present its ninth annual Magazine Street Champagne Stroll on Saturday, May 11. Over 100 Magazine Street businesses will provide free sparkling wine, with many offering special deals, live music, promotional sales, and art or trunk shows. Participating shops will extend their hours to 9 p.m. This is a chance for locals and visitors to support businesses on Magazine Street the day before Mother’s Day. The event is free and open to the public. Visit magazinestreet.com for a list of participating stores, shops, galleries, and restaurants. About MSMA
The Magazine Street Merchants Association is a coalition of business located on or near New Orleans’ Magazine Street corridor.

crime

Attempted cellphone robberies reported in Lower Garden District

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New Orleans police officers have arrested a teenager accused of trying to steal cellphones Monday on and near Magazine Street. Police say Robert Hughes, 18, tried to take a cellphone from 28-year-old man in the 1900 block of Magazine Street as the victim was using it on Feb. 25 about 11 a.m. When the victim resisted, police said, the assailant punched him in the face and fled the scene. An officer found the assailant a few blocks away, on Constance near St. Andrew Street, where he was trying to take a cellphone from a 47-year-old man, the NOPD report states.

crime

Magazine Street cashier thrown to ground while trying to stop shoplifters

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A cashier in a Magazine Street shop was thrown to the ground last week while trying to prevent a shoplifting incident. Second District officers are searching for four unknown suspects, pictured above, after their alleged involvement in the simple robbery. The victim told police that on Feb. 12 at 2:50 p.m., she was working as a cashier at a business in the 5500 block of Magazine Street when three women and a man entered the business. Two of the women reportedly stayed at the front of the store while the man and another woman proceeded to the back of the store.

events

Uptown’s epic Sunday of parades: NOMTOC, Iris, Okeanos, Mid-City, Thoth and Bacchus

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After Saturday’s cancellations, Uptown parade-goers were treated to a total of six parades Sunday — five in the morning, and the superkrewe Bacchus in the evening — with dense crowds along the entirety of each route. First were NOMTOC, normally a Westbank parade, and Iris, two Saturday parades added to the Sunday schedule because of rain. NOMTOC’s theme was “A Mythological Nightmare” and Iris was themed “Messenger of the Gods.” Following those were the usual Sunday morning lineup of Okeanos, Mid-City and Thoth. Okeanos’ theme was “Gone but Not Forgotten,” featuring lost local icons, Mid-City presented “Apocalypso: Party at the End of the World,” and Thoth’s theme was “Streets of New Orleans.”

business

Whole Foods ekes out minor concessions from City Council: 9 p.m. closing time, pumpkins on the patio

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After nearly a year of discussions and negotiations with neighbors and the city, Whole Foods Arabella Station will now be able to stay open an hour later on Sundays and display plants for sale on its front patio, with the official approval Thursday of only the least controversial of its requested changes to its operating agreement with the city. Specifically, Whole Foods will now be able to stay open until 9 p.m. on Sundays — matching its closing time the rest of the week — with the condition that it finish all its exterior maintenance and cleanup by 10 p.m. nightly. The store can also display plants, flowers and pumpkins for sale along its Magazine Street side, but no more than four feet out from the front wall. The store had requested an increase in the number of 18-wheelers allowed to make deliveries per day from one to four, and an extension in the deadline for deliveries from its present cut off at 11 a.m. to a later time of 3 p.m. Those changes, the store has argued, would have the effect of decreasing the amount of deliveries from smaller trucks, as well as spreading their arrival through the day to reduce congestion. But Councilwoman Susan Guidry, whose district includes the Whole Foods store, said she found the extended loading times unnecessary, because the store already has to do most of its loading before its 9 a.m. opening to avoid shutting down parking spaces around the loading bays.