By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
Those heading to Zen Palate at the Princeton Shopping Center in search of the restaurant’s signature Asian vegetarian cooking will be disappointed. They’ll encounter a deserted dining room and locked door.
Posted at the restaurant — which developed a loyal following here since opening in April 2007 — is a note. “Dear Valued Customers,” it reads, “Zen Palate is undergoing a management restructure. This location will be closed until further notice.”
The restaurant’s owners, HOV Group in New York City, which operates two other Zen Palates in New York City, have tried unsuccessfully to sell the operation in the Princeton Shopping Center, said Chris Hanington, general manager of the shopping center. “It did not happen and I’m not sure why. At one point they tried to restructure,” Ms. Hanington said.
”It was so popular when it first started and we were so surprised,” at the store’s suspension of operations last month, Ms. Hanington said.
Reached by telephone, an employee at one of the Zen Palate restaurants in New York said the Princeton location would reopen in a month. There was no answer at a telephone number for HOV Group she gave to a reporter.
”They do owe us rent while this is going on,” Ms. Hanington said. “We will try to work with them.”
Retail tenants at Princeton Shopping Center have not been immune from the larger economic downturn, although Zen Palate is the first tenant to cease operations at the shopping center in 2009, Ms. Hanington said.
Late last year, Princeton Jewelers and an Omni Fitness site closed at the shopping center. The Omni Fitness national chain declared bankruptcy in October 2008.
”The stores that we lost were weak, to us they weren’t great,” Ms. Hanington said. “The stores that remain are strong, holding their own. They are hanging in.”
Ms. Hanington said the shopping center has embellished its logo, emphasizing the theme “keep Princeton thriving, buy local,” to take advantage of the strong willingness to support the community by local residents.
”A lot of the stores, the stronger stores are being creative,” she said.
”Everything is less than it should be thanks to our lovely economy,” said Richard Marlowe, owner of Marlowe’s Jewelry in the shopping center.
The makeover of the shopping center completed last year was a positive development, Mr. Marlowe said. “To me it looks better,” he said.
”It’s not the shopping center’s fault, it’s just the economy’s awful,” he said.