Douglaston Village Businesses Want To See A Sign

Douglaston Village store owners said they want to place a sign on Northern Boulevard that would contain a list of their community’s shops in the hopes of driving more business to the neighborhood.

The proposal is one of several floated by the Douglaston Village Chamber of Commerce to draw more shoppers to the village, which is located off Douglaston Parkway and next to the neighborhood’s Long Island Rail Road station.

“It would help get more traffic and help our businesses to prosper,” said Scott Gramlich, owner of SG Custom Sound, an audio equipment store on 235th Street. “We’re pretty hidden away.”

But Dorothy Matinale, president of the chamber, said the proposal has not yet moved beyond the discussion phase.

“The signage on Northern Boulevard was a big concern of merchants,” Matinale said. “But nothing is concrete yet. Right now, the chamber and the LDC (Leadership Development Committee) are putting in a joint effort for the village’s revitalization. That’s our priority now.”

Last year, the group created a “visioning committee” to put together some ideas to revitalize the village, Matinale said.

Proposals included upgrading the signs of stores in the village as well as adding a clock tower at the traffic circle across from Il Toscano and Strawberry’s Sports Grill on 235th Street.

Matinale said there is a piece of property close to the CVS Pharmacy on Northern Boulevard that has been proposed as a spot to locate the sign, which would list the names of the various restaurants, businesses or firms in the village.

Susan Seinfeld, district manager of Community Board 11, said it might be difficult to get a sign placed along the boulevard. She believed the village’s businesses might have better luck in working out an arrangement to place their signs near shops or restaurants along Northern or to propose for the city to place the signs on traffic posts.

But Douglaston Village shop owners said their stores could just use a little extra attention.

“I hear all the time, ‘I didn’t know there were any stores down here,’” said Joani Emerson, whose husband, Jerry Emerson, owns Peak Bicycle Pro Shop on 235th Street. “We’re tucked away in a cul-de-sac. It shouldn’t be a secret.”

She said her husband frequently parks his car on Northern and places a sign on the vehicle advertising the store.

“If we can get customers with a car sign, imagine how many customers the businesses here could get with an official sign,” she said. “There are 52 or so businesses down here. People drive down Northern Boulevard all day long. We’d like for them to know about us, rather than having to find out about us by making a wrong turn.”