Last week, I was scouting around the Upper West Side when I noticed something nestled in the miniscule gap between two buildings on Columbus…
Literally occupying about 3 or 4 feet of space, was that a store??
Indeed it was! Known as the “Amazing Store and Smoke Shop” (which pretty much covers everything, if you think about it)…
…the store is exactly as wide as the door frame:
Inside, the Amazing Store is your standard magazine shop…only extremely skinny! It goes back about 12 feet or so, but never gets any wider than the doorframe. Note the worn hardwood floors:
The Amazing Store isn’t the smallest shop in Manhattan. That dubious distinction belongs to places like The Silversmith or The World’s Smallest Store, which can barely fit a single customer and really stretch the definition of “store” to the limit.
But what I love about the Amazing Store is that it’s a fully fledged bodega that doesn’t need to draw attention to its small stature for business. It’s just a magazine shop like any other…only really, really skinny.
There’s something amazing about that. Anyone know of a contender for skinnier?
-SCOUT
I live in Australia and I love this blog. Thanks for doing it! Hope you get work from it too. Cheers
Columbus seems to have a lot of little alleyways between the larger buildings; usually with fire escapes from one of the buildings. Just a block north of this Amazing Store there is (amazingly) a shoe repair place that is maybe two doors wide.
Look up between 85th and 86th on the West side of the street between a Deli and Pizza Pete’s. Same kind of thing.
I wouldn’t call this a bodega – they usually have groceries.
There is another with almost exactly the same name just off the west corner of Hudson and Christopher. That one has a sign that proclaims it to be the smallest store in the world.
i work right by that one on Hudson!
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/11/02/only-in-ny-worlds-smallest-store-on-christopher-street-is-big-on-character/
Couldn’t work THERE! Claustrophobic!!
We can’t have a store like this in California. If there is one, Scott Johnson, a scumbag lawyer, swoops in and bullies the business to pay him outrageous fees for not suing them for handicap violations. We need to reform these laws.
Looks like you’re in Sacramento. Same type of ADA lawsuits have hit mom n pop shops in San Francisco too. The scumbag lawyer targets ethnic establishments who aren’t savvy or aggressive enough to fight back. A 1-inch step leading to a bathroom can easily close down a business that has been there for 10 years. I’ve always wondered how a physically handicapped person could live in NY. I guess they are rare.
There’s a really skinny jewelry store at 183 1/8 West 10th St. It looked deeper than this store, but it’s quite narrow. http://www.lauralobdell.com/location.html
Hey Scout, congrats for making front page on Reddit! (#24 @ 10:20 pm, Mon 7/9)
E-Mo Kimbap on 32nd bet. 5th & Broadway (South side of the street) is pretty small, but a little bigger than this place.
Check out the Moulded Shoe at 10 E. 39th St. It’s not as skinny as the subject shop, but is an absolutely wonderful link to the past. Step through the door and into the 1930s or 40s. My favorite shoe store in America, shopping there is unique for sure.
Nick did you ask how much RENT they pay for it??
I bet the answer would bowl us over!
Yup, live right around the corner and pick up my Wired there every month!