This famed NYC institution is embarking on its next big step: a new uptown expansion.
Russ & Daughters, the iconic Lower East Side appetizing hotspot, has announced it’s set to open a shop farther north — in Hudson Yards.
The 109-year-old seller of smoked salmon, bialys, rugelach and other Jewish delicacies will cut the ribbon on its new, 4,500-square-foot 502 W. 34th St. counter, seat-yourself dining area and private event space next spring. The counter will offer hand-sliced fish via a take-a-number system and there will also be a glass-encased bagel bakery, as well as a caviar and champagne bar. The branch will be open seven days a week and offer delivery within Hudson Yards.
“Congruent with the feel of existing Russ & Daughters establishments, this new location will also include hand-painted lightboxes, neon signs, original artwork and appetizing showcases,” reads a press release.
It’s located at the base of 50 Hudson Yards which, at 2.9 million square feet and 1,011 feet tall, is the developer-built neighborhood’s largest commercial office building. Other building residents will include the investment management company BlackRock and social-media giant Meta.
Currently, Russ & Daughters maintains a retail space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard as well as the original shop and cafe on the Lower East Side. (The cafe reopened this July following a two-year pandemic closure.)
“This is a wonderful moment in Russ & Daughters history,” fourth-generation Russ & Daughters co-owner Niki Russ Federman told The Post. “We got through COVID and just reopened the Cafe after 2.5 years. Now we can pour our creativity into bringing 109 years of Russ & Daughters to a new place that has so much energy and promise.”
The shiny West Side office tower will be quite a contrast to Russ & Daughters’ humble history: The business was begun in 1907 by a Polish-Jewish immigrant named Joel Russ who peddled herring from a pushcart until, in 1914, he’d saved enough to open a brick and mortar store on East Houston Street.