In the News: KidZania in the Seaport?

••• “Workers at Añejo Tribeca said the thief broke the glass window [with the cap to a fire hydrant] on Jan. 6 at about 12:45 a.m. The thief entered the restaurant and looked around, but left empty handed.” In which case, he’s not a thief, right? Maybe a vandal and a trespasser? Anyway, that’s him pictured (and there’s video). —New York Daily News

••• Little Park gets three stars (out of five) in what’s almost entirely a rave from New York magazine. The restaurant was doing a friends-and-family preview of brunch this weekend, so presumably brunch is still set to launch on Saturday. (I’ll see if I can get the menu) Related: I’ve now heard from a couple of people who have showed up at Evening Bar, only to find “reserved” signs everywhere…. The website insists seating is first come, first served.

••• The New Yorker has a long feature on KidZania, the international “theme-park chain where children pretend to be adults.” (This gave me chills: “Corporate sponsors, upon whose investment the business model depends, also embraced the concept, and there are now more than eight hundred worldwide. ‘KidZania is a good platform in terms of building brand loyalty,’ Maricruz Arrubarrena, one of KidZania’s Mexican executives, told me. ‘Kids don’t have a lot of loyalty—they have a lot of options. In KidZania, the brands can work with the kids when they are kids, and in the future build a more loyal client.'”) Anyway, “In the U.S., [CEO Xavier López Ancona] is in discussions with a potential partner for the first of what might ultimately be sixteen American locations. He’s looked at the South Street Seaport, in New York, but is more likely to open first in Chicago or Dallas, where the real estate is cheaper and there are fewer competing entertainment options.”

••• “Small Tuesday Greenmarket Near WTC Loses Last Remaining Vendor.” —Tribeca Trib

 

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