My Town Marked Down is the official blog for Postabon, a community of deal-finders. This blog shares our experiences in finding a good value in New York City - whether it is a designer dress 70 percent off, free entrance to a museum or an incredible brunch special. Read about our adventures and some of our community members' favorite deals in the Big Apple.
The first day you join the Postabon team, not only do you get cool branded t-shirts and water bottles, but our whole office goes to lunch together. In natural fashion, this lunch has to be a deal. Here’s where we ate lunch on the cheap when our two new engineers, Jason and Bill, joined our team this week.
Is It Truly A Deal?: I ordered dumplings to start and a plate of pad thai. If I came to Peep for dinner, this would have cost me $5 for dumplings, and $9 for pad thai, or $14 total. By coming to lunch, I was able to get the same large portions for only $7, so 50% off.
Pros: This deal is advertised right on the menu, so you don’t have to feel shady about asking for your free appetizer. Usually when ordering from a lunch special, the options are limited, but Peep offers 10 appetizers to choose from and 15 entrees. In addition, this deal is available if you’d like to order Peep for delivery.
Cons: Everything about this deal is perfect. The only con is that the service could be improved.
Our 2 Cents: If you work in Soho like us, you know the options for an affordable lunch are pretty slim. Luckily, Peep’s lunch special is a bright spot in this neighborhood. In fact, this two course meal is cheaper than our local salad spot! We definitely recommend giving Peep a try.
Recently, complaining about how fashionable the SoHo shopping scene is has become almost as fashionable as the shops themselves. Here at Postabon, however, we still think that this district is still one of the best, if not the best, places to shop in Manhattan. It has a decidedly different feel then other big shopping districts in the city, trading the lights, the glitz, and the glam for cobblestone streets and the hipster, skinny jean vibe. This makes it a much more relaxing shopping experience, and a prettier one as well. Since our new office is located right outside of the main drags of SoHo shopping, we decided we might as well give you our take on it, while highlighting some kick-ass deals for you to check out.
There is some truth to the gripe that neighborhood denizens have over the gentrification of SoHo, as many big name brands have started to move in, such as J. Crew, Pottery Barn, Armani Exchange, Banana Republic, and more. However, there are still plenty of great smaller boutiques and stores that serve as anchors for SoHo’s charm (and expensive-ness).
The main shopping area of SoHo runs from Canal St. north to Houston, and 6th Ave. east to Broadway, covering a lot of ground. Broadway is where you will find most of the big name stores, like Pottery Barn, Sephora, Banana Republic, H&M, and more. Pearl River Mart is a highlight on Broadway, as they have great Asain clothing, gifts, and food, and is certainly eclectic.
But you didn’t come down to SoHo (or New York in general) to shop at stores they have everywhere. The real meat of this shopping district is rooted in the small boutiques and premium brands, which is what draws clothes hounds from all over to these cobbled streets. The best streets for these types of shops are all up and down Prince and Spring, as well in between on Thompson, W. Broadway, Wooster, Greene, and Mercer.
On Thompson, be sure to check out The Hat Shop, a New York gem where you can buy one of their hand-made hats, or order one custom made. In the surrounding area, outposts from Betsy Johnson, Issey Miyake, Vilebrequin, Kid Robot, and the like are sure to please men and women of any taste.
Postabon also noticed some great deals going on during this particular adventure, such as the Flair Furniture Warehouse Sale. SoHo is also known for great antiques and housewares, so be sure to check out some of the antiques and vintage furniture that Flair has marked down up to 70%. We also noticed Tumi’s 35th Anniversary sale, where you can save $100 on all luggage and legit accessories at their store on Prince St. When we walked by Patagonia’s downtown store, we also remembered one of our most popular posts ever, describing the great deal they have where you can turn in products that are past their prime, and get refunded the original purchase price to buy new items!
True enough, the make-up of SoHo has changed a bit in recent years, but as we found, there is certainly something for everybody. Whether your taste is a little more PBR then Grey Goose, or you prefer Albino Alligator Loafers to Chuck T’s, you’ll be sure to find whatever you’re looking for in SoHo (at a 30% mark-up).
Hey all- As I mentioned yesterday, Postabon just moved into our new office, so I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you all about how we found the best value on office real estate for a start-up.
In true start-up form, for the first couple months we worked out of our CEO Stu’s apartment. We knew we needed to upgrade, and with all of us consolidating from different places (namely Boston) to New York, an office was necessary. We wanted to find something quick and fast, and after searching Craigslist, we decided our best bet might be one of those temporary office locations that you always see on Taxi TV. We went with one located down in the East Village, which was good, especially because we could take advantage of the happy hour at Central Bar! However, it ended up becoming a bottomless pit of money (the $50 per hour of conference room time didn’t help), so we started searching again.
This go-around we had a little more time on our hands, so we explored some different avenues. We used a commercial real estate broker, called other start-ups for ideas, and went back to Craigslist as well. The broker was great, and showed us some good space, but since we are so small and wanted a limited term, he wasn’t for us (though he was a good guy, and hopefully we will use him in the future). Craigslist ended up working the best, as we found some some good, shorter lease-term spots downtown, and ended up settling on one down in SoHo. We were a little worried about losing our happy hour spot, but found a great new one in Bar Henry (great $1 oysters).
For start-ups, sublets are definitely the way to go, because they will let you do a shorter lease, as well as normally offer smaller spaces. Also, location is important, so be sure to use Postabon to check out the neighborhood your potential office is in to search for great local deals!
get cool branded t-shirts and water bottles, but our whole office goes to lunch together. In natural fashion, this lunch has to be a deal. Here’s where we ate lunch on the cheap when our two new engineers, Jason and Bill, joined our team this week.
Pros: This deal is advertised right on the menu, so you don’t have to feel shady about asking for your free appetizer. Usually when ordering from a lunch special, the options are limited, but Peep offers 10 appetizers to choose from and 15 entrees. In addition, this deal is available if you’d like to order Peep for delivery.
