Uh-oh. I know where my wife will be starting tomorrow.

I hope they really hurt Kos Koffee.

Hey, where are all the cutesy farm implements on the walls? My prior experience with LPQ is that EVERY store looks the same. Not that there's anything wrong with that...the food is generally quite good.

Finally, somewhere to get good pastries.

LPQ is obscenely overpriced and the quality is nothing compared to places like Du Jour Bakery. Blue Sky and Leske's are nice too.

$13 for a loaf of bread is unacceptable and quite frankly, insulting.

This is an unfortunate addition and makes me incredibly nervous that another unimaginative chain will open up in the Fornino space nearby. I was in Brooklyn heights the other day and forgot how commercial Montague has become from west to east -- Chiptole, Starbucks, Subway, Banana Republic, etc. Utterly charmless. So long as these franchises can outbid local merchants on retail space, and landlords opt for money over the preservation of local character (who can really blame them?!), I fear that small businesses are doomed in the Slope.

Montague St has had a large number of national retailers for DECADES .

Burger King
Waldenbooks
Gap
Sleepys
Radio Shack
Blimpies
Sprint

Nothing new about Montague

Bklynmind:

You just proved the point that once the chains come in, they are here to stay.

There is a situation now over in Cobble Hill where a new J Crew is coming and replacing Pacific Green grocer, a store that is a neighborhood treasure and survives despite it being across from Trader Joes. When the grocer found out about his lease not being renewed because JCrew had been signed, he offered more money and still the landlord said no.

http://www.change.org/petitions/j-crew-don-t-evict-a-neighborhood-grocer-in-brooklyn

We should be very careful before all of Park Slope looks like a mall or like any other affluent suburb. One of the top things that makes this neighborhood special besides the brownstones is the village like retail and plethora of mom and pop stores. Once it becomes all chains, it's never changing back. Would be nice to hold onto these independents because the chain money gets sucked right out of the neighborhood while the mom and pop money typically stays local.

That's not to say that a few chains here and there isn't a good thing, but people saying we have no good pastries when we have Du Jour bakery and a host of other excellent bakeries means people are lazy and just don't explore the neighborhood but wait till they see a familiar mall-store and THEN all of the sudden we have good pastries.

@Sterling Exaggerate much? Theyre menu is here
http://www.lepainquotidien.us/files/file/NYT2_RYEL_Final.pdf

Theyre not cheap surely but their prices arent that much different from places like Union Market and upscale restuarants in PS.

Not exaggerating at all. Some of their loaves of bread are $13.00.

The prices are stupid. The salads are $12-14.50. I don't approve.

An upscale restaurant and Le Pain Quotidien should not be in the same sentence. I do not equate LPQ with Convivium Osteria, Al Di La, Rosewater, Stone Park, Applewood or some of the other very fine restaurants we have in this neighborhood, all of which are independently owned.

If you prefer LPQ to those places and think the Disney-like chain is as good as or better to those restaurants and should be the same price, be my guest. I'm offering my own personal opinion on the place. The money from LPQ is taken out of the neighborhood, that is my gripe with most chains. They create a sameness about every neighborhood and every city.

This is an important discussion. Few of us treasure the idea of a chainified Park Slope. But, hasn't it happened already? Starbucks, banks, real estate offices...it's a matter of time before the first Duane Reade opens on Fifth Ave. LPQ is a chain, but there is no place in Park Slope offering the same product.

Despite my concern, I still think Park Slope has far more mom and pops than it does chains. We need banks and real estate offices in moderation and yes there are 2 Starbucks but there is also 15 independent coffee shops that seem to thrive.

My concern is the tipping point when we go from majority independent to majority chain and fear that day and what it means for this neighborhood.

Only thing to do is to speak with your wallet. Go to Zito's or City Subs instead of Subway, Pure Bistro instead of LPQ (very much simiilar offerings actually) or Sun in Bloom has far better food and the prices are less.

I suppose some people just prefer chains.

The salads at Pure are all $7 and $8.

First RE offices arent really chains
2nd - I wish there was a Duane Reade in N Park Slope on 5th (there are somethings that chains are good at)
3rd to say that 5th Ave (at least in N.PS) is already filled with national chains is profoundly wrong

Finally, Montague street is an entirely different animal than PS (it is essentially a business district retail corridor) and even so it still has a fair number of independent retail establishments.

Luckily there are no storefronts big enough to hold a Duane Reade in North Slope 5th Avenue. There is one literally a 5 minute walk away on Flatbush.

It seems laziness is indeed a factor in all of this. We have 2 Neergaards, 1 Duane Reade, 1 Rite Aid, 1 CVS, 1 new pharmacy on Park Place and you want ANOTHER Duane Reade? That's ridiculous.

@Sterling

LPQ is just not the type of chain to be crying liberal mom and pop end of days over. Its well liked, and has been said before offers something that other places dont (inc great hours something often lamented on this site). Vote with your feet, thats your right-meanwhile this place will thrive.

What is inherently noble about a mom and pop that youre trying to protect.? Folks have been pulling their hair out about chains in PS for decades, the store sizes in PS generally dont accomodate chains which is a much larger reason than price for why they havent and will never take over the neighborhood.

I am in far better shape than you but everyone of the pharmacies you cited are at least a 15 min walk from Union and 5th (sort of central N./lower Slope).

Regardless other than banks, a subway (and now this one bakery) 5th Ave is practically devoid of chain stores

Great hours? Most LPQ's close between 8 and 8:30.

That's not great hours in my opinion. Even Moutarde (when it was open) stayed open till 10 or 11pm.

LPQ has about the same hours as TD bank which closes at 8pm.

LPQ adds no life to the street in the evening.

My beef with chains is that the profits are extracted from the neighborhood and sent to 1%ers living elsewhere whereas mom and pops give their money back to the neighborhood as many of these owners live and work here. Plus I personally think Ziro's and City Sub provides a far better product that Subway or Quiznos and I personally think Sun in Bloom provides a far better product than LPQ (and Sun in Bloom is open later) and I think Bonnie's Grill makes a far better burger than McDonalds. The list goes on and on....

Bklynmind:

On hopstop, it's 11 minuteswalking from Union/5th to Duane Reade on Flatbush.

It's 7 minutes walking to Neegaard at 7th and President and 6 minutes walking to Prospect Gardens Pharmacy.

sterling are an a$$ for effect or birth? Do you live in PS?
you arent making it from 5th to 7th Ave in 6mins at anything nearing a regular walk -
most people dont live right on the corner of union and 5th (that location was a reference point)
Neerguard and Prospect Gardens arent similar to a Duane Reede (for good and ill)
and regardless a 15min (roundtrip) walk up and down a fairly large slope (and in the opposite direction from mass transit) is not all that convenient for anyone much less someone who is sick.

I've lived in PS probably longer than most of the people commenting here. And when I'm sick Neegaard delivers.

Btw, the further north you go on 5th Ave away from Union, the closer you are to Duane Reade. :)

You may not agree with everything (or even anything I say) but trust me, you will be sorry when 5th Avenue turns into 7th Avenue, which it is rapidly doing. And then we'll have 2 boring retail strips filled with chains.

You can't walk 2 Avenue blocks in under 6 minutes? Seriously?

I'm no fitness expert, but I'd get your heart checked if it takes you more than 6 minutes to walk 1/3 of a mile.

Sterling is right on point. While I think that transformation from mom and pops to chains would take years to transpire, I do worry that PS owners will make the easy decision of more reliable rental income over taking a chance on a new budding business. It's understandable from the owners point of view, but collectively, may be shooting themselves in the foot over the long run.

Part of the appeal of living in Park Slope, in my opinion, is that it's not exactly like Manhattan. I admire the local business owners who are taking a chance on starting a business, creating jobs and providing a service for our community. I also feel a lot better where my money is going. There is social value that cannot be quantified by the price by which you pay.