Recognizing Ridgewood’s New Businesses

The Village of Ridgewood is known for its endless array of restaurants and stores. There is something for everyone on each street, whether it is a restaurant at which one might be a regular customer or a boutique that one shops at weekly. Most people in Ridgewood prefer to revisit well liked businesses rather than expand their palettes by acknowledging new ones. In spite of this tendency, there are plenty of interesting new businesses in Ridgewood to check out.

Back in March of this year, The Real Housewives of New Jersey’s Melissa Gorga opened a second location of her boutique, Envy, on East Ridgewood Avenue. Given that many people know of the celebrity, there was rising excitement from Ridgewood residents when they heard that the boutique would be opening in town. Nancy, a salesperson at Envy, states that the store has been “very popular [and has] had lots of traffic flow”. She also mentions that the “customers range from as young as elementary school to eighty years old”. Seeing that high school students fall into this span of ages, you should stop by Envy during your next shopping spree.

As for new restaurants in Ridgewood, Salad House was looking to relocate when they were presented with a fortunate opportunity, the closing of Carlos’ Bakery on Wilsey Square. Nipson Gomez, the store manager, says that since its opening in May, the healthy franchise has been “trending in the right track”. As for the clientele, he describes it to be “a mixture of everything…it depends on certain days and times. During the week, people try to get food for their lunch breaks, so more adults. The weekends tend to be more family oriented with kids because there is no school and people are off of work”. Gomez encourages students to try Salad House because they “have a little bit more than just salads. [They cater] to kids [and] adults, [and they serve] family-type of foods.”

In June, Evolve Spa joined the myriad of businesses that make up East Ridgewood Avenue. “[The spa] has been popular so far… from young women to older ladies, [we have attracted] all across the board” says Jackie, the manager of Evolve. Jackie specifically believes that students would be interested in the esthetician services that the spa offers.

The most recent addition to Ridgewood is Nature Sparkle, which literally “cut the ribbon” on September 10th, 2022. The fine jewelry store replaced Lucky Brand Jeans, and they have already received all kinds of customers. Nature Sparkle’s owner, Yoad, says that the business is more popular online. Even so, he feels that students might be attracted to the “fashion jewelry [that is offered for] a couple hundred dollars”.

Finally, ice-cream lovers will be thrilled to hear that Dairy Queen will be replacing Little Nest Portraits on East Ridgewood Avenue. Although the grand opening date has not yet been announced, it is a dream come true for Ridgewood citizens to not have to drive to Wyckoff to order their favorite blizzard!

Jordan Katsaros
Staff Writer

Graphic: Jordan Katsaros