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Thursday, May 3, 2012
BROOKLYN moms say 'boo' to Hooters
A move by Hooters to open near the new Nets arena has gone bust so far — but brownstone Brooklyn is melting down at the very thought of the risque restaurant invading their neighborhood.
Hooters reps have been trolling through the stroller-friendly neighborhoods of Prospect Heights and Park Slope for a possible storefront — but local moms say they are ready for battle.
“It’s a disgusting national chain with bad beer and bad food,” said Lee Skaife, mother of a 13-year-old girl and a 9-year-old boy.
“It’s just not a family place.”
Hooters — which already has two locations in midtown and in Queens — is looking to cash in by luring Nets fans from the new Barclays Center at Atlantic Yards, which opens in September.
The restaurant has already tried to land deals with Triangle Sports, which is closing on Flatbush Ave., and with paint-store owner Michael Pintchik, who owns several buildings between Atlantic Ave. and Grand Army Plaza.
But so far, no dice.
“Hooters has been trying to come into this neighborhood, and twice they were rejected by the largest property owners in the district,” said Sharon Davidson, the executive director of the North Flatbush Business Improvement District.
“The Pintchiks want to keep the neighborhood neighborhood- friendly, and they won’t rent to Hooters,” she said.
To “stifle the rumors,” she sent out a 3 a.m. tweet over the weekend, saying: “Absolutely no Hooters for North Flatbush Ave.”
Another Hooters hater, a group called Save Park Slope, declared war on Twitter Monday. “We will fight Hooters on all fronts,” the group tweeted.
Hooters didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Sources said the restaurant is also looking for property within the Park Slope Fifth Ave. BID, but the group’s executive director, Irene LoRe, said she wouldn’t be receptive.
“We’re neighborhood stores. That’s how we want to be.”
LoRe said that most of the retail space in the area is under 1,000 square feet, much smaller than the rowdy restaurant would need.
Phoebe McGraw, 62 — who has lived on Bergen St. for more than four decades — described the eatery as “trash traffic.”
“From here they’ll go to strip joints,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking. They’re destroying something special.”
Heather McMaster, 35, agreed that the curvy waitresses will bring too much debauchery to the family-oriented neighborhood.
“It doesn’t surprise me that businesses like Hooters are coming along with the stadium,” she said.
But, she said, the restaurant would never attract customers because it’s a “misogynistic, sexist outfit and nobody from the neighborhood will go.”
Chapin Day, 44, might prove her wrong. If Hooters does find a spot to open, he’ll have no problem tipping a few back with the bawdy bartenders.
“You get good wings and beer cheap,” said Day, who is unemployed. “I’m looking forward to it, actually.”
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