Unlicensed Smoke Shop Evicted in Hell’s Kitchen
From W42ST.NYC:
There were signs of change at 606 9th Avenue (between W43rd/W44th Street) this week, where a smoke shop vanished this week after a court case between landlords and Citi Deli Corp — more recently known as Milky Way Exotics — was decided in favor of the landlords this January. The building’s owners filed suit against the tenants for defaulting on their lease terms in December 2022, alleging that Citi Deli Corp “had impermissibly altered the use of the premises by ‘including the sale of smoking supplies,’ thereby ‘changing the nature of the retail sales’ from a grocery/convenience store into a ‘smoke shop.’”
The owners of Citi Deli Corp argued that while they were selling unlicensed smoking-related products, they had continued ‘to stock and sell grocery store items and lightly prepared foodstuffs’… in compliance with the lease.” Photos of the store renamed as Milky Way Exotics convinced officials otherwise, and the “deli” was ordered to vacate. According to local sources, the sheriff’s office raided the establishment on April 10, although the shop reopened April 11 and remained in business until this week. W42ST has reached out to the plaintiffs for further comment on the case and will update if we hear back.
