The New York based burger shop is finally coming down to the Lower East Side.
Shake Shack is a popular fast-casual American restaurant chain that is known for serving up old fashioned hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, and classic milkshakes. Founded in 2001 as a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park, founder Danny Meyer quickly turned his humble cart into one of the neighborhood’s most explosive new concepts. Shake Shack soon became recognized country-wide as one of the city’s hottest burger spots, and before long tourists were flocking in from across the nation, often lining up around the perimeter of the park just to get a bite at the newly-famous burger cart.
While Danny never intended to operate the store as a chain, Shake Shack’s explosive popularity soon demanded expansion despite the intention to keep the store New-York only. In 2010, the brand opened their first restaurant outside of New York City when they launched their first expansion into South Beach, Miami. Today, twelve years after their first expansion and the humble store is now a globally recognized franchise, operating multiple different stores across the country and in Mexico, Singapore, and South Korea.
Now, a brand new Shake Shack outpost is getting ready to open up in the Lower East Side later this year. The store has recently filed permits to redesign the space after acquiring the lease for 131 Rivington Street. The long-vacant space was formerly home to Schiller’s Liquor Bar, a popular bar and restaurant from owner Keith McNally that operated from from 2002 – 2017. Schiller’s was known by many as one of New York’s great restaurants, and its closure in 2017 was a tremendous blow to the many fans who found inspiration from Schiller’s casual, classically New York atmosphere.
The acquisition of the space by Shake Shack is welcome news to neighbors who had been spending the past five years wondering what concept, if any, would ever take over the Schiller’s space. While Shake Shack has yet to officially announce the expansion on social media, Google already lists the restaurant at 131 Rivington Street. For more updates, you can follow Shake Shack on Instagram for information on all of the brand’s latest new projects.
