Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Air Conditioned Stores Still Leaving Doors Open In Summer
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 9, 2010
Modified Jul 9, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jul 9, 2010
Modified Jul 9, 2010
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
It is sort of nice to get a blast of cool air while schlepping your way through the steamy sidewalks, but it's also wrong—very, very wrong. It's like enjoying a free hit of crack, basically. Despite that relatively new bill (passed in 2008) that fines air-conditioned establishments $200 per door/window left open, some companies are still risking it to lure in customers with their sweet manufactured breeze. (To clarify, under the legislation any business that's 4,000 square feet or larger, or part of a chain with five or more stores in the city, must keep their doors shut when the air conditioning is on.)
According to the NY Times, nine stores in Manhattan and the Bronx have already been fined this summer—they report that the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs has inspected 105 stores, where 26 were issued warnings and 9 were fined (they were already warned last summer). Those stores were Jeans Plus, Jimmy Jazz, Bronx Kidstown and V.I.M. in the Bronx, and Filene’s Basement, DSW, Forever 21, Armani Exchange, and Brooklyn Industries in Manhattan.
As the Times discovered, the doors left open can mean a big difference in temperature change to the outside world—on a 97 degree day, the temperature within 10 feet of one retailer's open door was a cool 79 degrees! As noted last year, there aren't many alternatives, but one Brooklynite said when he was growing up, "We used to see shops with a sign in the window depicting a penguin standing on an iceberg and the words: 'it's COOL inside.'"
Tagged
air conditioning
fine
heat
stores
summer
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
A fifth person dies after a medical emergency in NYPD custody this year
A 48-year-old man was held for roughly 20 hours at Brooklyn Central Booking before he collapsed in his cell. He died three weeks later, and the medical examiner has not determined a cause.
By
Charles Lane
Published Sep 11, 2026 at 4:08 p.m. ET
Park Slope locals outraged by catnapping of bodega kitten: ‘It’s unconscionable’
The cat caper has the neighborhood up in arms and on the hunt for a couple caught on surveillance camera walking away with the 3-month-old white kitten.
By
Stephen Nessen
News
Park Slope locals outraged by catnapping of bodega kitten: ‘It’s unconscionable’
The cat caper has the neighborhood up in arms and on the hunt for a couple caught on surveillance camera walking away with the 3-month-old white kitten.
By
Stephen Nessen
5 Bronx buildings had no recent record of monthly testing before Legionnaires’ outbreak
By
Joe Hong
Cluster of community cats found dead in Brooklyn. Locals worry they were poisoned.
By
Catalina Gonella
City-backed nonprofit grocery stores have come to Newark
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .