This is unfortunate news. BLAST has its own energy and gave Cedar Lane a youthful, 21st century edge. (It also gave us great home-made soup.) Once again, the viability of Cedar Lane as a thriving business community is brought into question. The ~$4 million Cedar Lane Streetscape project apparently hasn't been enough to improve business activity.
Sarah and Scott are creative people but running a food establishment is a 24/7/365 operation. I'd be interested in knowing why they chose to close. I wish them the best in what they do next.

Why is it such a mystery? Most stores close because they do not make enough money to stay in business. Something tells me the high schoolers were not big spenders.

Wow what a huge loss for Teaneck. This place always had nice coffee and things to eat. They seemed to really careabout the quality and tooktime to make the store look nice. Thats more then I can say for MOST of the places on Cedar Lane. The area is looking very run down. Im very sad for BLAST. They were a star for Teaneck. I wish the owners the best but its a big big loss.

Art sorry but its going to take more then nice street lights to improve cedar lane.

James: Once again, we agree.

Millions of tax dollars were wasted on cedar lane.... I hope the town realize that in order to be successful the town needs to take a back seat and let the business people take care of themselves....... We need stores on cedar lane that are open 7 days a week.... selling stuff people actually want and able to pay for......

Sarah and Scott are great. They had a unique, hip vision for what BLAST could be and they brought that youth and vitality to Cedar Lane. The coffee was fantastic. But we should note the closing of any one store is not a commentary on the vitality of Cedar Lane. Between Yo Boys Yogurt and Bischoff's we have the two best ice cream spots in BERGEN COUNTY. There is no better place to get a pastrami sandwich than Noah's Ark and Smokey Joe's is still packing them in for BBQ Ribs and Brisket.Oh yeah, lets not forget Butterflake. Manor shoes, and the 99 cent store.
And, if you still want a great cup of coffee, Teaneck General store coffee is fair trade and often organic. The espresso machine is perfectly tuned like a Ferari for an awesome cup of espresso.
Sarah Jack does not need to go far. To the best of my knowledge, the Cedar Lane management groups director position has been empty for two years. It would be the perfect use of Sarah's marketing skills and her vitality. cedar Lane could benefit from her energy.

Joe I agree with some of your points, but a 99 cents store? come on. That is not a big draw for outside people to come visit Teaneck. Its almost embarrassing. Kind of a low class place to be honest. Yo Boys and Bischoffs are great. Ive never been to Smokey Joes but it looks like. My point though is for all the stores, thats really not much to show for a 30,000+ population town. Look at our neighbors in Englewood or even Ridgewood. I drive to those places for nice dinners out. Also many stores are looking very shabby in Teaneck. BLAST was always so nicely kept up and looked new and fresh. Thats what we need. More energy, i'm not a young person but this town is feeling very run down, drab. Also there were other stores that left. Fish of the C's and the toy place are two. Its not good. Citizens and government MUST take action. What does the Cedar Lane Management group do? What about chamber of commerce? i think there is also NO marketing of Teaneck places in advertisements or news articles. Why? What is being done to help local store owners?

Good point James, a 99 cent store is not exactly a huge draw. Nothing against the shoe store but there is no shortage of those either.

The nicest part of Englewood (Palisade ave) are many restaurants have outdoor seating, they are upscale and hip, and the buildings and area look nice. Cedar Lane looks old and dated even with the $4million sidewalks, trees, and lamps.

I am so sadden to see the Blast go. My son who is a high school shopmore always enoy frequenting the Blast for there arts/ filming premiers/poetry events or just sitting and loving the atmosphere, meeting new comers old an young. We are so sorry to see it go. It would be so nice if Teaneck would embrace more up to date ideals to aquire more blooming businesses. Its a shame Teaneck could not do better for the Blast to stay. We in Teaneck need to do a lot of updating to stay ahead of the game because we are slowing going under :-(

BLAST is doing Teaneck a service even closing.
No one has mentioned the DEAD TREES that remain in place for years on our Streetscape. Many of the remaining trees are not thriving.
The Council members who voted for the cedar lane streetscape are still on the Council. Tell them how you feel at a Council meeting so it is "on the record". I can't blame the businesses too much. The town takes extra money from them every year.

A word of warning to the businesses of Teaneck rd. Be very careful with what you agree with. Visit Cedar Lane streetscape. Count the bus shelters. None. Look at the poor condition of some of the sidewalk. It is all of 7 years old. The poorly laid out parking. The bus bumpouts that block traffic every time a bus comes.
Have high standards.

For Cedar Lane to be more successful the single story shops need to be replaced with multistory buildings with housing for singles, young families and seniors. This would create foot traffic and energy. The big problem will be creating enough parking. But Teaneck, especially its downtown areas, lacks the kind of upscale apartments that attract people into urban areas and support businesses like Blast. Downtown also needs something to draw people from outside: the movie theater is in dismal condition (look at what Pleasantville did with their old theater and its impact on the town), the farmers market is hidden away from the main street, drawing customers away from, instead of to, the other stores (markets in the heart of downtown increase foot traffic and sales).

I think Michael Rogovin's comments are largely correct. Not to mention that the Chestnut plaza was poorly designed/executed. If we could convert that into some sort of atrium and have multiple stores sharing that space so that it created an open plaza, with diverse, small, and interesting businesses - that could also help.

Teaneck had its chances for more development along Cedar Lane but chose to forgo them. Again, look to the Council. The decisions they have made have frozen Teaneck back in the 20th Century. Our restaurants, movie theatre are great assets and the new shops like the General Store, UPS, and YoBoys give me hope. Did anyone ever think of giving up one lane of parking and widening both sides of Cedar Lane sidewalk? It would double the amount of sidewalk in some places.

I think if we gave incentives for Teaneck residents to join a Teaneck twitter we could easily distribute news, coupons, ads and town info to the people of this great town.Additionally we could offer free "how to" courses for twitter to get our townspeople into the 21st century.

This would be a free and modern solution to what most likely kills Cedar Lane stores like BLAST--that is, a lack of awareness from the people in the town.

Follow this economic truth...people respond to incentives. Give them incentives to join a free twitter, give them free education about it and we will see a dramatic change in patronage to Teaneck stores.

Can i get opinions on this?

I feel like a Hookah (Nargila) Bar would do well in Teaneck. We have a growing middle eastern community and this would definitely increase foot traffic. Also, people drive from all over to go to a nice hookah bar.

If only we could get the OK from the mayor to allow this...I think it would do well.

I have nothing against any of these ideas. But why not lower taxes which would give people money to actually spend. No point in having new stores if people can't afford to shop.

In the last full reexamination of the Master Plan (2006-2007), Cedar Lane was rezoned for mixed-use 3-story development. (Mixed use: retail, office, residential). Nothing happened. The Plaza was rezoned to allow (conditional) 5-story development. Nothing happened. North Teaneck Road redesigned its B-R zone to make it more development friendly. Some wonderful international food stores came in, as well as some charming restaurants. Some are still there (e.g. Honey's, reviewed in the NY Times!!). But the town has not taken on the responsibility of marketing the riches there. The Lazy Bean and Mocha Bleu in the plaza area are fantastic -- but known primarily to one segment of the Teaneck community. Why aren't they marketed to EVERYONE?? A Proposal: Redesign the present plan for the Old Police Building, downgrading to, say, $2million (instead of $3.5m), and budget $1.5 for hiring of a professional marketing team and a 5-10 year development plan. Since he was hired, one of the Manager's assigned long-term goals has been to develop a 10 year economic plan. Three years later, he hasn't done it. We need good long term planning and timely effective short term implementation of established plans. We need energetic leadership. BTW, where are the new bus shelters? Why in a town of 39,000 have only 63 people signed up on the website for emergency notification?

The elephant on Cedar Lane that nobody has mentioned is the high retail rents - which make it very difficult for small niche retail businesses the breathing room to establish themselves and build up a steady clientele. The silver lining of the Blast story, if there is one, is that Sarah and Scott proved that there was demand on Cedar Lane for a place like Blast. While their personal circumstances require that they move on, perhaps some other entrepreneur can make a go of it, if not at that location than perhaps at a cheaper location. The storefront at the Northwest corner of Cedar Lane and Palisades Avenue has been vacant for several years. Perhaps that landlord would be willing to offer it at a reasonable rent that would allow a cafe some breathing room to establish itself and build up a clientele.

@Barbara Ley Toffler:

Teaneck should not spend any money on marketing or studies...... they should just lower taxes and be more friendly to development..... They should allow high rise buildings.. not 3-7 story buildings.... give developers reasons to invest and profit.... the developers/businesses will find Teaneck.. trust me.... profit is great motivator.......

We should have an open season for development for all of Teaneck... no need to have zoning board approvals... blah blah... let the developers come in, satisfy the town wide requirements (set by the town) and lets have a go with it...... that will kill the "backyard" problem.

Zizi: You misread me. I said to remove one lane of parking so we can widen the sidewalks. Some portions of our sidewalks are 5 ft wide or less. It discourages walking. If we remove a row of street parking - maybe 20 spaces (220 ft) - we have to make it easier to locate our off street parking. It galls me that our parking signs are old, not well placed, not "friendly". First timers to Cedar Lane must go nuts.
Another problem for Cedar Lane is that it is not flat.
The bus stop bumpouts were a mistake as others have noted. They turn a 4 lane street into a 3 or 2 lane bottleneck every time a bus comes by. Same thing happens when the bumpouts are used to drop off/pickup. Double parkers may have their special medical reasons to double park. If they are just lazy, well, that's another story. By widening our sidewalks 5 ft on the both sides of Cedar Lane we achieve much more than the bumpouts have.

I don't think wider sidewalks will do much....... We need traffic enforcement to discourage double parking..... i don't think anyone should be double parking without paying the town some needed cash....... What we need are incentives to build high rise buildings/condominiums and commercial space..... wider cedar lane and better use of parking space that the town already has......

Blessings on my Jewish family but : "We" vote for our own Yeshivas & temples but public schools or the Armory side ,we rule the boards and vote down a ton of stuff because we don' use the public system.How many of you actually know the other side of T-Neck? Wonder why people go to Englewood & Tenafly ?? This ain't Brooklyn.

@A.Nunca: Please refrain from such raw comments..... I know we are a town divided along all different lines.... but we all live here and we should try to work along and do what is good for all of us...... be nice......

I don't even know what A nunca is saying.