The Zucker’s outpost that opened last summer on Bogardus Plaza has closed permanently. The lease they had with the Friends of Bogardus Plaza, who operate the kiosk, was for one year with an option to renew and they chose not to move forward.

They decided to focus solely on their original shop, which they are moving in the next weeks to a bigger space across the street on the north side of Chambers.

“There were plusses and minuses to being so close,” said Victoria Weil, the president of the Friends. “It’s convenient to have your supplies, staff and a bathroom so close but it also didn’t make as much sense for the kiosk to sell many of the same products 250 feet from their storefront.”

The kiosk is also a different animal than a store, Weil noted — it’s impacted by the weather, the vendor can’t control who comes up to the window and customer patterns are different. Zucker’s did get the Friends through the growing pains in the beginning, doing the lion’s share of the behind-the-scenes efforts it took to get the kiosk in working order.

“And we are grateful for that. We are sad that they are moving on, but we learned a lot,” Weil said.

The plaza definitely needs a new tenant asap – the rent they collect there is 50 percent of the maintenance, so they are working with the Department of Transportation, which controls the RFP process for the kiosk, to identify the next vendor and hoping for a fall opening.