I spoke with Josh Rahmani, the affable CEO of Prime Essentials (and the CEO/co-founder of Venture Capital Properties), which is opening its first store at 88 Leonard (at Broadway). A few tidbits gleaned from the conversation:

• “We’ll be opening in three to four weeks, realistically,” said Rahmani. “We did a lot of construction on the space, and it took longer than expected.”

• Prime Essentials is hoping to become a Manhattan-wide chain: “We’re going to make a real push for it.”

• The chain will be about home goods and food as much as traditional drugstore wares. “A lot of people who live around there have been emailing ever since we put up the [help wanted] flyers. They’re asking for groceries, so we’ll be enlarging our refrigerated section.” Rahmani also said the chain will be “a little experimental”—in other words, that they’ll see what works, what people want.

• To that end, Prime Essentials will soon be sending out a mailing to the neighborhood soliciting suggestions. I offered to pass along an online version, so stay tuned.