Dessert Diaspora: Chocolate Bar Moves Again!

You may recall that the beloved Chocolate Bar was priced out of its West Village home back in April and, after months of searching, finally settled on a new location on East 7th Street. The East Village spot was popular with a few regulars like Janeane Garofalo, but owner Alison Nelson had a tough time making the steep rent there as well, and abruptly shut down earlier this month. Now, in an ironic twist, the foul economic winds have blown her right back where she started, just across the street from her original West Village location, with a rent that's cheaper than either place. Indeed, real estate analysts expect retail rents to continue decreasing throughout 2009. Nelson tells the Observer, "I’m walking up and down Hudson and Eighth Avenue every day, and one by one, I’m watching all these stores close and I’m like, 'What the hell is happening?'...For me, it’s funny that this whole economic hell has kind of reopened doors that had been closed only seven months ago."