Hot seasonal bargains in Cedarhurst village

Posted

For four days up to 100 businesses offered special deals and discounts to shoppers as part of the 31st annual Cedarhurst Summer Sidewalk Sale in the village’s business district.

“I used to walk by and watch it go on, but I never took part in it until this year,” said Lawrence resident Anthony Philippou, 24, who works at the menswear store Emporio Clothing at 467 Central Ave. “It always interested me though. Everyone is out here and it seems like we have 100 people passing by us every day. We’re selling things, we're doing good and business is good.”

Established in 1988 by the Cedarhurst Business Association and continued by the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District after its formation in 1993, the summer sale is designed to generate business during a slow time of the year by attracting customers to the stores with larger than usual discounts. This year the sale was July, 10, 11, 12 and 14.

Cedarhurst village Trustee Ari Brown, a BID board member since 1998, was pleased with the turnout for the sidewalk sale. “The village and the Business Improvement District have other yearly events like Black Friday and Midnight Madness as well as the Summer Sidewalk Sale,” Brown said. “We have people coming in from places like Brooklyn and New Jersey, and the restaurants especially do much better as a result of the sale.”

New stores, like high-end sneaker store Central Hype on 523 Central Ave. that has been in business since October 2018, appreciate the boost that the sales event gives them. “We have all the highly popular sneakers that you can typically find in SoHo or somewhere else in the city, but we brought it to Long Island,” said North Woodmere resident Max Kermin, 20, co-owner of Central Hype. “It’s great, because it gives us more people coming in and new customers that help us to really get our name out there, so events like this are not only great for us but for the whole community as well."

Central Hype began as Kermin’s middle school obsession and grew into a full-time business. “Me and my business partner, David Katz, got into collecting sneakers around late middle school and now since the whole ‘hype culture’ became more mainstream we ended up getting to the point where our inventory wasn't fitting in our house and we decided to open up a store,” Kermin said.

Cafe Chocolat, a candy store at 556 Central Ave., also took part in the sales event. “We’ve been doing the event for 12 years,” said Far Rockaway resident Yosaif Krohn, 35, owner of Cafe Chocolat. “We gain a nice boost going into the beginning of the summer because of the increase in traffic and it’s a big deal for us. Central Avenue in the last couple of years has gone from a roaming shopping scene to a destination shopping area and things like the Summer Sidewalk Sale and the Midnight Madness get shoppers interested in the other stores in the area.”  

Brown noted that Cedarhurst is one of the most “premiere shopping districts” in the area, and that the BID’s board works together with shop owners to help fill vacancies and promote annually-held, sales-related affairs. “It was a nice event this year, and it gets better every year that we do it,” he said.