Bay Ridge's November Starts on Third Avenue, While 86th Street Waits on Trader Joe's

"It's happening," Council Member Kayla Santosuosso posted in mid-October. "No, really. Trader Joe's coming to 86th Street." That post is quoted in the Brooklyn Eagle, which then confirmed the plan with the chain's public relations manager. The company had nothing else to share.

So the biggest retail news Bay Ridge has had in years comes with no opening date. Almost everything else happening in the neighborhood this month has a date and a start time, and nearly all of it is organized by a local bar, a bookstore, a restaurant or a merchant group. If you want to know what November in Bay Ridge looks like, start with Third Avenue this Saturday.

Saturday, November 7, From Shore Road to Three Jolly Pigeons

The first full weekend of the month is also the busiest. All of these events are on the NYC Parks schedule or posted by their organizers, and in order they run from morning to night.

1. 8:45 to 11 a.m., Shore Road Park. The free weekly NYRR Open Run is on the NYC Parks calendar for Saturday, November 7. The course starts near the 79th Street entrance.
2. Noon to 5 p.m., Third Avenue. Merchants of Third Avenue holds its third annual Battle of the Bartenders. It starts at Kitty Kiernans and ends at Three Jolly Pigeons.
3. 6 p.m., The BookMark Shoppe, 8415 Third Avenue. Bay Ridge native C. Thursby Flynn signs copies of Summer Nights.

The organizer says the event has moved to a new date this year and now runs as a walking tour from stop to stop along the avenue, the same format as Pizza Wars and Wing Wars. Every participating bartender makes their own version of one signature drink, the Fort Hamilton Distillery Double Barrel Bourbon Whiskey Merchant, mixed ahead of time in a big batch. Guests taste a small sample at each stop and vote for their favorite. They also play a walking bingo scavenger game, and the last bingo number is called when the winning bartender is crowned. Tickets cost $40.

The organizer counts 13 stops. Kitty Kiernans and Three Jolly Pigeons open and close the route. The others are The Wicked Monk, Bar Chuzo, Iguazu, Cebu, The Kettle Black, Ho'Brah, Brooklyn Roots, Laila Bay Ridge, Puertas, Kampos and Status Q Billiards. The organizer notes that bars may change before the day.

Every stop on that list is a Third Avenue bar or restaurant, and the bourbon in every glass comes from Fort Hamilton Distillery.

The Bookstore Is Doing the Rest of the Month's Programming

When the bartending ends, most of what's left on the November calendar happens at one storefront. The BookMark Shoppe at 8415 Third Avenue has an event almost every week, and most of them land on a Friday or Saturday evening.

Book Karaoke falls on November 28, the same day the Bay Ridge 5th Avenue BID is promoting Small Business Saturday. The BID's listing asks people to shop and eat locally that day, and it doesn't describe a street event or a schedule. If you want something specific to show up for on the last Saturday of the month, Book Karaoke is one of the few events with a set time.

All of this comes right after the 53rd annual Third Avenue Festival. The nor'easter pushed it from September 27 to October 4, and it ran 25 blocks, from 69th to 94th Streets. The merchants who closed the avenue for that festival are the same ones taking it over again this Saturday.

Three New Kitchens on Fourth and Fifth Avenues

This fall's new restaurants are on Fourth and Fifth Avenues, and two of the three are already open.

Sofra, 8915 Fifth Avenue at 90th Street. Brooklyn Bridge Parents put this modern Egyptian restaurant in its roundup of August openings. It serves shared dishes and is open noon to 10 p.m. seven days a week. Eater NY says the name means "table" in Arabic. According to Eater, the restaurant comes from co-owner Mohamed Elbhery and chef Mohamed Shaaban, childhood friends from Alexandria who reunited in the U.S., along with Happy Fahmy, another friend raised in Alexandria. Eater lists koshari, Alexandrian-style hawawshi, macarona bechamel and a kofta smash taco called the Koftaco. The balady and fino breads use a sourdough starter that Shaaban and his wife started during the pandemic.

Bombay Birria, 6424 Fourth Avenue at 65th Street. This halal birria taqueria and corner deli-bodega opened by the 65th Street subway station. It is counter service only. Eater NY reported that it opened on Saturday, September 26. The menu includes tacos, house-made mango lassis, goat birria and butter chicken bowls, and a sandwich section with a masala chicken ranch.

Rimal Seafood, 7812 Fifth Avenue. This one is a restaurant plus a fresh fish market. The sign is up and no opening date has been posted.

Between them, these three cover Fourth Avenue near the 65th Street station, Fifth Avenue in the 70s and Fifth Avenue at 90th Street. Add the Third Avenue bar crawl and the bookstore, and this fall's new openings are spread across the whole neighborhood.

What Is Actually Scheduled on 86th Street

The Century 21 site is where the dates run out. Here is what has been confirmed. MCB Real Estate and Osiris Ventures bought the former department store property at 458 86th Street for $47.5 million in 2025. It's a 14-lot assemblage running along 86th Street between Fourth and Fifth Avenues, and the plan, now called Century Marketplace, is a $130 million mixed-use redevelopment, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

Brooklyn Paper reported that demolition started in early December 2025. In August 2026, the developers announced leases totaling 60,112 square feet with Burlington and a grocer they didn't name yet. Brooklyn Paper said those deals brought the 120,000-square-foot project to 65 percent pre-leased. The developers described the grocer as "the first national grocer to serve the immediate Southwest Brooklyn trade area." The plans also leave room for two junior anchors and 15,000 square feet of smaller shops.

On October 11, Santosuosso named the grocer in a video. Brooklyn Paper reported that she ended it with "I'll see you in aisle four!" and that no opening date has been announced. The Eagle calls it the first Trader Joe's in Southern Brooklyn.

Century Marketplace isn't the whole former Century 21 property. The holdings were sold separately, and a different project is going up on the 87th Street side. The Brooklyn Reporter described that plan in December 2025 as a SuperFresh on the first floor of a two-story building, next to a six-level parking structure at 423 88th Street, with an opening forecast for spring 2026.

Century 21 opened on this corner in 1961 and closed in 2020. Five years of failed proposals and ownership changes followed. A national grocer and a national discount retailer have now signed on, but no opening date has been set. When 86th Street does open, it will add two national chains to a strip that has been empty since 2020.

The Next Date Nobody Officially Sets

Dyker Heights, next door, is the other big thing on the late-fall calendar, and it has no organizer either. Each house sets up its own display, and the tradition is unofficial. Brooklyn Unplugged Tours estimates the lights will start around November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, and says some displays may not be lit until around December 1.

That leaves this Saturday, November 7, as the first firm date: the Shore Road run at 8:45 a.m., the first pour at Kitty Kiernans at noon, and a 6 p.m. signing at 8415 Third Avenue.

If you live along 86th Street, or anywhere near Fourth and Fifth Avenues, and want to know what two national anchors could mean for your block once Century Marketplace opens, Yadlynd Cherubin and The Legacy Team are glad to talk it over with you. We follow Brooklyn's commercial corridors closely and can help you see what's changing near your home. Schedule a free consultation.