This year's New York City International Pickle Day Festival, taking place on October 4, will be a lot more brinier than usual, supplemented with free flowing half-sour tears. The reason? Earlier today, news broke that Lower East Side tenement-era survivors Guss' Pickles will pack up their barrels four months from now and move to Borough Park.
The retail shop has been in business for around 85-90 years, and both Eater and Grub Street noted that Guss' move has little to do with their 2006 lawsuit roundabout with the Cedarhurst, Long Island based pickle business of the same name. Co-owner Roger Janin told Grub Street that business has just tapered off too significantly, even during peak holiday seasons, to make a profit.
Guss' new home will be a lower rent spot on 39th Street between 14th and 15th Avenues, relatively close to the other LES pickle mainstay The Pickle Guys, who last year set up shop on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood (try the horseradish pickles). The Pickle Guys' owner Alan Kauffman once worked for Guss'; for more on the pickle/LES connection, here's a piece from last week's Jewish Daily Forward. It includes a recipe for homemade "kosher" pickles.
