Two Boots Pizza is packing up its ovens at 42 Avenue A, with the original East Village shop set to serve its last slices on Friday, May 29. The shutdown ends nearly four decades on the corner where the Cajun-Italian spot, known for its funky folk-art look and playful pies, first fired up in 1987.
Lease talks break down, owner says
Owner Phil Hartman said efforts to renew the lease fell apart after what he described as a final offer was turned down, and rising rent made staying put a nonstarter, according to EV Grieve. He told the neighborhood site that "the landlord rejected our final offer this past Friday" and that the company would move rather than take on what he called unsustainable costs.
East Village roots
Two Boots traces its story back to June 24, 1987, when Hartman and Doris Kornish opened the first shop on Avenue A with developer John Touhey, per Two Boots. That small storefront shaped the chain's offbeat Cajun-Italian menu and served as the launchpad for a modest regional brand that eventually opened locations across the city.
Farewell event and plans to return
The Avenue A outpost hosted a farewell event this week, and fans have one last chance to say goodbye at a "celebration of life" for the space on Friday at 7 p.m., according to PIX11. The outlet also reported that Hartman plans to reopen Two Boots at a different storefront in the same neighborhood rather than exiting the East Village altogether.
What this means for neighborhood small businesses
The loss of the Avenue A corner is the latest example in what city officials and small-business advocates describe as mounting pressure on longtime local shops as commercial rents and lease terms shift. The NYC Comptroller has highlighted ideas such as lease mediation, targeted relief, and vacancy tracking in its "Save Main Street" report as tools to keep neighborhood corridors from hollowing out.
Hartman has said that pieces of the Avenue A space, including artwork and mosaics, will move with the pizzeria and that the counter could eventually live on as part of a future "Two Boots Museum," per EV Grieve. For updates on where and when the pizzeria will reopen, watch Two Boots and the owner's social channels.
