The End of LeNell's?

Some sad news to report. Racked has learned that LeNell's, perhaps the finest liquor store in New York and a Red Hook staple if there ever was one, has lost their lease and may have no where to go. According to Tanya "LeNell" Smothers herself:

Our lease is officially up this month. I know it will take months for a formal eviction should it come to that. Sad to say that the space that we had a draft lease for fell through this week.

Tragedy. There seems to be no other options in the area, and no other part of Brooklyn will suffice. The only possible rainbow in this vast real estate storm is that LeNell's may be willing to consider Manhattan if no Red Hook space materializes.

Update: Sakaya

A quick update from Sakaya, the soon to open specialty sake store in the East Village. Store owner Rick Smith checked in to say, "We were approved for our liquor license in mid-July and are moving forward on our build-out...During the construction phase we'll also be doing some things in the shop window to begin to create the feeling of what we'll be about by treating passersby to a bit of sake imagery and info." Sounds good to us. Don't forget to check out their semi-regularly updated blog as well. Kanpai!

White Star Supernova

After years of litigation, the little known Belvedere Winery had finally slayed the big bad Belvedere vodka. A judge had ruled that LVMH's clear, tasteless liquor had infringed upon the winery's precious trademark, and LVMH's had little choice but to change Belvedere's name and move on. LVMH chose White Star. They planned a big ol' marketing blitz to introduce the new product. And then nothing ever happened. So what went down? A Little Birdy, who doesn't much like singing in the rain, sang this us, "LVMH resolved the Belverdere issue with the California winery, buying the name outright. New Belvedere marketing campaign will hit full force in Sept." Resolved to us means they drove up to Napa with a big ass bag of cash and dropped it on someone's door. TCB, you know? At least our banker friends won't be confused when they get their bottle bills at Tenjune and see a $450 charge for something called White Star. Now we can all get some sleep.

How to Get a Beer and Wine License

Despite the difficulty in gaining Community Board #3's support for new establishments that serve alcohol, many new businesses require the boozy revenue that serving drinks provides. Honesty ain't working and lying isn't such a great idea either. What's left? Begging!
A new coffee shop that is vying for a wine and beer license has posted this cry for support in its window, asking community residents interested in espresso, Cabernet and a good stout to show up at CB 3 meeting to convince the old codgers on the board that what First Avenue needs is more booze.

Odds of success? 12:1.