La Nacional at 45-12 46th St. (Photo: Queens Post)
Aug. 6, 2019 Staff Report
A long-time money transfer store on 46th Street closed yesterday, joining a number of other store fronts that have closed recently.
La Nacional, located at 45-12 46th St., shut its doors Monday after being on that strip for over 20 years. The company will continue to provide its services nearby at a new permanent location at 45-08 Greenpoint Ave. It will be sharing the location with Musicalisimo, a cell-phone provider that had a La Nacional kiosk in its store already.
La Nacional decided to consolidate the two locations at Musicalisimo where the cost of rent would be cheaper and the foot traffic is robust due to the Musicalisimo customers, according to a well placed source.
The former La Nacional location will be the new home of the UPS store, a business that was destroyed in the Queens Boulevard fire in December. The UPS store has been operating out of a temporary space at 45-18 Queens Blvd.
Tony Tang, who owns the UPS store with his wife Lena, plans to start renovating the 45-12 46th St. space soon and open their permanent location at the beginning of 2020.
La Nacional is not the only store to have closed recently.
GameStop closed its Sunnyside store at 47-21 Queens Blvd. at the end of June.
Customers of the store are being referred to the GameStop location at 5106 Northern Blvd in Woodside.
GameStop at 47-21 Queens Blvd (Photo: Sunnyside Post)
The corporate office at GameStop did not respond to questions as to why the Sunnyside store closed. However, the manager at the Woodside location said the lease came to an end at the Queens Boulevard location and it was not a high-performing store.
Meanwhile, the Sunnyside Thrift store at 46-25 Greenpoint Ave. closed at the end of June. The store is operated by the owners of the thrift store by the same name farther down the avenue at 45-12 Greenpoint Ave.
The closure represents a consolidation of business, workers said.
Sunnyside Thrift Shop That Closed (Photo: Sunnyside Post)
