Two FIT students who stopped into the new Lidl at 335 Eighth Avenue told Chelsea News they had "seen it under construction for a very long time." They hadn't known what kind of store was going in. Then one of them spotted a loaf of bread for two dollars.
Anyone who walks between 26th and 27th Streets has seen that construction fence for years. The surprise is how the store got there. The housing cooperative next door required a discount grocer on this block.
The clause behind the store
The site is owned by the board of Penn South, Chelsea's large affordable housing cooperative. When Penn South picked MAG Partners to redevelop the site, the deal came with a condition. In 2023, Commercial Observer reported that MAG had to find a low-cost supermarket for the ground floor as part of its agreement with the co-op board, and that Lidl fit. Lidl signed a 15-year lease.
That one requirement explains most of what has happened on this stretch of Eighth Avenue since. The old low-rise retail building held a McDonald's, a Gristedes supermarket and the restaurant Taco Bandito. So the block had a grocery store before. What the co-op secured was a guarantee that the new building would have one too, and at the low end of the price range.
How long the block went without one
The wait was real, and it ran longer than first promised.
- 2023. Commercial Observer reports the Lidl lease and says the store is "set to open in 2025."
- October 2023. MAG Partners dates the groundbreaking for the new building to this month.
- Summer 2025. Mabel, the new building, starts leasing apartments upstairs while the grocery space stays dark.
- October 7, 2026. Lidl holds its grand opening with a 7:40 a.m. ribbon-cutting.
MAG Partners describes Mabel as a seven-story, 190-unit mixed-income building of about 200,000 square feet, designed by the local firm COOKFOX. From the sidewalk, what matters is that the corner storefront finally opened about a year after the apartments did.
What came back in place of Gristedes
The Chelsea store is Lidl's fourth in Manhattan. It follows the Harlem store on Frederick Douglass Boulevard and the Lower East Side store at 408 Grand Street, which opened August 1, 2025. According to Lidl's announcement, it's open daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. It has an in-store bakery that bakes throughout the day, a butter croissant priced at $0.49, and a non-food aisle that changes weekly, with things like kitchenware and seasonal home goods.
The shoppers Chelsea News spoke with judged the store on what the co-op asked for in the first place, which was price. The students said a $3 bag of tortilla chips would usually cost them at least $5. Another shopper compared it with the Target trip he usually makes nearby:
"I have noticed that dairy products like milk or yogurt here are around $3 to $4 maybe. Target is probably like $6 and a half."
The same shopper told Chelsea News that Trader Joe's is on the east side and he works on the west side, so this store is easier. A shopper who had just moved from Boston said it was "by far one of the cheapest" stores he'd tried, and he pointed out its section of Hispanic foods. The paper also noted that the Grand Street opening drew a union picket with an inflatable rat, while the Chelsea opening went off without trouble.
The rest of Eighth Avenue filled in around the same weeks
The Lidl opening caps a run of openings that started over Labor Day. Walking south from 26th Street, four new places sit within eight blocks of the grocery store. None of them is a chain flagship or a big build-out. They're small storefronts, and together they cover breakfast through a late glass of wine.
| Where | What | Opened | Hours as reported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 335 Eighth Ave, at W. 26th | Lidl | October 7 | Daily 8 a.m.–9 p.m. |
| 228 Eighth Ave, at W. 22nd | Cinnaholic | Labor Day weekend | 9 a.m.–11 p.m. Sun–Wed; until midnight Thu–Sat |
| 261 W. 19th St, off Eighth | MadDough Bagels | September 12 | Sells out by noon |
| 158 Eighth Ave, near W. 18th | Bar Lento | October 1 | Closed Mondays |
MadDough Bagels opened on West 19th Street between Seventh and Eighth on Saturday, September 12. Eater NY describes it as a family-run shop that was already drawing attention for its pizza bagels and selling out by noon. Going early is how you get one.
Cinnaholic is a vegan cinnamon roll bar at 228 Eighth Avenue that opened over Labor Day weekend. You build your own roll with toppings like fresh fruit, cookie dough and chocolate drizzle, and the coffee comes from Coffee Project New York, per Eater. Chelsea Community News reports it's a family-owned franchise and that the rolls are made without eggs or dairy. It stays open until midnight Thursday through Saturday, which is unusual for a dessert counter on this stretch.
Bar Lento opened Thursday, October 1, at 158 Eighth Avenue. Eater NY calls it a Verona-inspired wine bar and bistro, named for the Italian word for "slow." Behind a brick-framed front there's a garden, and the menu runs from bruschetta to fluke ceviche in a citrus tomato vinaigrette. Chelsea Community News reports more than 60 Italian wines, both covered and open-air seating in the garden, and reservations through Resy. Hours are noon to 10 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday, 4 to 10 p.m. Thursday, noon to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. With covered garden seats, it's still usable as November gets colder.
So the Penn South requirement fixed the most basic errand on the avenue. A loaf of bread and a carton of yogurt can be a short walk again. The places that opened nearby this fall are the small extras you add to that walk, like a bagel before it sells out, a roll after dinner, or a glass of Veneto white on a Sunday afternoon.
West of Ninth, the gallery season turns over this week
This post goes up Thursday, October 29, the same day two new shows open in the West 20s, a few avenues from the Lidl.
- Elaine de Kooning (1918–1989) at Berry Campbell, 524 W. 26th Street, runs October 29 through December 19. The gallery says the show includes rarely seen work and pieces from her John F. Kennedy portrait series.
- Diana Kurz: Hidden in Plain Sight at Lincoln Glenn runs October 29 through December 5. The gallery describes the paintings as recently rediscovered in the artist's studio-home.
- Yu Hong: Field of Asura at Lisson, 504 W. 24th Street, opens November 4 and runs through January 9, 2027. Lisson calls it the artist's New York debut.
Saturday is Halloween. Chelsea Market is hosting trick-or-treating from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., with free face painting from 2 to 8 p.m. Pier 57 has its own Halloween event from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. ARTECHOUSE's ocean-themed show inside Chelsea Market runs through November 16.
The new grocery store on Eighth Avenue shows how much the ground floor of a building shapes the block around it. Penn South decided what would go in that corner storefront before construction even started. The Falchiere Group team handles that kind of question on every redevelopment and renovation we manage, from the first negotiation to the day a building's commercial space opens. If you're weighing a property with retail space or a development site in Chelsea, schedule a consultation and we'll go through it with you.
