The Upper East Side will soon welcome a one-stop shop where visitors can sip coffee, browse gifts and home accessories, and take in the aroma of fresh flowers.
BloomBar Café et Fleurs, owned by Heleyne Tamir and her husband, Ronnie, will open its newest location at 1226 3rd Ave. It will join the cafe’s existing locations in New Jersey and Brooklyn.
The couple knows the neighborhood well. Tamir told Whatnow New York City they previously lived on the Upper East Side and operated a fashion boutique there in the early 2000s.
“It’s like coming home for us. It’s really nice,” she said.
BloomBar Café et Fleurs launched during the COVID-19 pandemic as a flower shop before expanding its concept.
“We opened a small flower shop in a quiet little town in New Jersey where the New Yorkers descended for a couple of years. We were catering to the local community. People would come in and they would want to stay all day with coffee. A couple of years later, we found another spot nearby and decided we would put in a cafe and make it BloomBar Café et Fleurs,” Tamir said.
The new Upper East Side location will maintain the brand’s signature concept, blending a cafe and boutique under one roof. It will also feature two other shops.
“It’s about 3,000 square feet. We took the space with two other businesses. One of them is a high-end women’s clothing store, and the other is jewelry. I would liken it to coming off the elevator in a department store, where you can free flow the space,” Tamir said.
The cafe will serve pastries, hot and iced coffee, tea, espresso and matcha drinks. The matcha is imported directly from Japan, while the single-origin, organic cold brew comes from Clean Coffee, reflecting the team’s focus on high-quality products.
The boutique will offer fresh and dried florals, along with candles, diffusers, body oils, fragrances and home goods.
“I think the feeling and the energy people have when they come into BloomBar is relaxed. They just feel like it’s their moment of escape—you can get off the busy city street and feel like you’re somewhere else,” she said.
Tamir looks forward to joining a new community while returning to a neighborhood she and her husband once called home.
“I think the reception from the neighborhood will be exciting. What we really love every time we create a space and go into a new location is connecting with the people. Every area is so different,” she said.
The team plans to open BloomBar Café et Fleurs the first week of November. Visit the website and follow along on Instagram for the latest updates.
