East Village’s Historic Gem Spa Is Banking on Instagram to Save It From Closing

East Village institution Gem Spa remains open, but barely

East Village institution Gem Spa, a 1920s-era newsstand where New York’s fabled egg cream was born, is hanging on by a thread — and Frenchette chef Riad Nasr took to Instagram pleading for #influencers to help keep the shop open. The Times detailed the store’s current struggles: Gem Spa is facing a lawsuit from its landlord, was forced to scale back its hours, and recently lost its cigarette and lottery licenses, which made up for 80 percent of its revenue.

Parul Patel took over the store for her father last year and is now trying to revive it by pulling in a crowd through social media. Gem Spa has over 2,000 Instagram followers under the name @besteggcream, where it’s going heavy on promoting its history as well as branded T-shirts for sale. And Nasr recently promoted the store on his own Instagram, too, asking influencers to “put down those ridiculous #burgers that disgusting #milkshake” in favor of the historic store.

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