The Jersey City Independent "

To break up the long drives he would regularly make between New Jersey and Michigan, North Carolina and Maine for his job as a skate shoe sales rep for Converse, Chase Whitaker took up thrift shopping. Over time, he amassed such a collection of vintage menswear, military tchotchkes, and taxidermied ornamental animals, that he decided it was time to shift gears, as it were, and create a shop of his own.

Share/Save Illustration: Amanda Assadi-Rullow, based on a concept by Local First West Michigan and data from Civic Economics. For a larger version of the chart, click here. Owning a small business anywhere is hard enough, but our big-sister city to the east can make it even harder to do it in Jersey City. After all, [...]

Share/Save Photos: Steve Gold Editor’s note: This story appears in the Spring/Summer 2010 issue of NEW. You can download the entire issue here, or find a print copy at one of our many distribution locations. One weekend in January, in a quaint general store in upstate New York, Sawyer Smith stumbled upon a pair of [...]

Share/SaveThe Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee on Thursday approved a consumer protection bill that would tighten regulations on rebate marketing in New Jersey. The legislation, sponsored by Hudson County Assemblyman Vincent Prieto and co-sponsored by local Assembly members Joan Quigley and Ruben Ramos, would forbid retailers from advertising a product’s price after a manufacturer’s rebate unless [...]

Gillian Allen is intent on taking one of the challenges she’s found in her Greenville neighborhood — an inadequate supply of quality food available in her predominantly minority, economically challenged community — and turning it into an opportunity. We talk to her about the newly born Jersey City Food Coop Initiative to find out what she and the others behind the co-op push have planned.

Share/SaveThis morning in Trenton, the Assembly Consumer Affairs Committee will consider a consumer protection bill sponsored by Hudson County Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, and co-sponsored by local Assembly members Joan Quigley and Ruben Ramos. The legislation, essentially a truth-in-advertising measure, would forbid retailers from advertising a product’s price after a manufacturer’s rebate unless the amount of [...]

Share/Save- The state Division of Pensions and Benefits will reportedly conduct an investigation into the two high-paid city employees who retired, cashed in huge one-time pension payouts, and came back on the city payroll. Meanwhile, the trio of state bills designed to reform the pension system were unanimously approved by the state Senate yesterday; they [...]

Share/Save- At-Large councilman Mariano Vega* pleaded not guilty to federal corruption charges yesterday, as did suspended building department employee John Guarini and political operative/Municipal Utilities Authority commissioner Joe Cardwell. Vega*’s trial is set for Feb. 24. Meanwhile, former city planning aide and Ward E City Council candidate Guy Catrillo is due to be the first [...]

Share/Save In early November, a car crashed into the Downtown urban style and design boutique Bred in Jersey, forcing the owners to close up shop for a while. At the time they told our Tipsheet that they hoped to re-open by the end of the month after redesigning the store. Weeks turned into months, and [...]

Jersey City’s newest live music venue, the Red Bull Air Show, Smith & Chang’s General Store and Art House Productions’ annual snow ball: We take a look at it all in the latest Tipsheet column.