Connecticut Muffin Opens on Nostrand

Nostrand Avenue now has a second chain coffee shop.

Monday morning, the owners of Connecticut Muffin opened ion the corner of Nostrand and Bergen Street, replaceing Barbara's Flowers, which moved around the corner.

Yasser Abdelhadi, who owns the coffee chain with his brothers Mohamed and Ahmed, said the staff was "still working out the kinks."

"So far so good. People have responded very nicely," he said. 

To start, the Nostrand Avenue shop, which was announced last winter, will be open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. or later and offer baked goods, soups, sandwiches, coffee and free wifi. Abdelhadi hopes to get approval for outdoor seating by next summer.

The store currently has about a dozen employees, most of them from Crown Heights, Abdelhadi said.

Despite the name, all the stores are in Brooklyn. The name comes from where the first shop got its muffins. Abdelhadi, who grew up in Bensonhurst and still lives in Brooklyn, and his brothers have shops in Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and Windsor Terrace. But their newer stores are in more up and coming neighborhoods including on Myrtle Avenue in Fort Greene in 2002 and Cortelyou Road in Ditmas Park in 2007.

When the store was announced in February, many area residents were pleased, saying it would draw more chain businesses to Nostrand Avenue. But others said they worried the change would raise rents and drive out existing businesses. See our poll on the topic. 

Last week, as workers put the finishing touches on the shiny storefront, Cecin Wells, a retired factory worker who lives near the shop, called the opening of Conneticut Muffin is "a good sign" for the neighborhood.

"It's nice to have a change," he said. "As long as they're not expensive, they're going to do well."