OTBKB saw workers carting the contents of the Maggie Moo’s space into a dumpster parked out front. Maggie Moo’s went out of business last spring and their space on Seventh Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets has been vacant ever since.
Across from PS 321, half the space used to be Who’s on Seventh, a vegetarian restaurant that was in the Slope for years. I believe the owner of the building was the owner of that restaurant. Next door was a news and candy store, who’s owner was the victim of an armed robbery back in the 1990’s.
Both spaces became a larger version of Who’s on Seventh and then an Italian restaurant. It was considered a doomed restaurant space for a few years.
The neighborhood was dubious about Maggie Moo’s from the start. However, school-age kids seemed to like their overly sweet ice cream flavors. The sidewalk in front of the shop became a weekend hangout for local teens, who spilled over from Pino’s Pizzeria.
The original franchisees couldn’t make a go of it and Maggie Moo’s corporate took it over.
It was in 1995 — I had just bought a lotto ticket and he said “good luck” to me. The jackpot was quite high that week.
A few moments later, after I had left, some guys came in a robbed the place and took the entire cash register with them. As they were going out the door, the owner tried to get it back, and they shot him. Their getaway car was a very noticable, white late model car, I want to say a Toronado, but that can’t be right. They caught the guys on 5th Ave about 10 minutes later.
Diners in the vegetarian restaurant watched the owner die on the sidewalk. They called him Danny. He was an Indian national who had been persecuted in Uganda (when Idi Amin threw out all the Indians) and had come to the US.
The owner of the candy store was killed in the robbery? When was that, do you know?