How this pigeon store stays in business in New York City

Aug 17, 2025 2:37 PM

Grogu007

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1100283

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1359

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cat

the_more_you_know

birds

aww

humor

How do they deal with all the squabbling?

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"alright fuckers" is the perfect energy to channel before interacting with a bunch of birds.

1 year ago | Likes 196 Dislikes 1

Legit lol for that scene. Fuckin birbs. We got shit to do.

1 year ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 0

He is on retainer.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

i like how he refers to them as 'fuckers'

1 year ago | Likes 95 Dislikes 0

Brreding is their job, so yep, right terminology to remind them of.

1 year ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

It's Brooklyn.

1 year ago | Likes 31 Dislikes 0

Fuckers is gender neutral. It's respectful, ya know?

1 year ago | Likes 27 Dislikes 0

All I can think of is Pigeon Man from Hey Arnold

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Another, much newer, cartoon it also made me think of is Pinky Malinky. JJ's run trouble with the bread clothes. The plan for a pigeon restaurant.
But I can't find any gifs regarding the pigeons.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Another Michael Scott

1 year ago | Likes 31 Dislikes 0

"Somehow I manage"

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

In London, there are normally 5 reasons.

1. New lease rebate - a business is given a teaser rate rent which increases after 2-3 years. Seen a lot in newly developed areas.
2. Council owned, Council controlled, or Council subsidised commercial properties.
3. Refurbishment deal - sort of like the new lease rebate. If you promise to refurbish a dilapidated store, you pay a reduced rent.
4. People own the building.
5. Money Laundering - This typically applies to 1 in 6 of these types of stores.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Pigeon Enthusiasts spend a TON of money on their fancy birds. I love them so much.

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

So it just boils down to owning the building, everything else is secondary.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Sell pot.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I rent pigeons, for family..... get togethers like weddings and funerals

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Mike Tyson woves pigenth….

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I saw an episode of House with pigeons in water, didn't turn out too well.

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Jesus, I remember that. "He's in 10/10 agony all the time even when he's sleeping, and he is GOING to DIE."

I remember being horrified by that and hoping it wasn't possible. Then I started getting weird cluster/migraine headaches that were so bad I could not sleep for days (I THINK iron deficiency) and when I used sleeping pills to fall asleep, I would be in agony WHILE asleep. Just dreaming of pain, still being in pain.

It makes that ep hit with so much more horror knowing it can be true D:

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

"because we have "Security" cat's inside..." That's just a punctuation mess.

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

"This week on Trading Up: He's a used-pigeon salesman. She's an investigative journalist who does deep dives on weird-looking stores. Their home-buying budget is $4 million."

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

$150x500 =$75,000.00

1 year ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Take it from one who knows; pigeons are excellent friends to have

1 year ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 1

Clyde has done nothing wrong. No more questions.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Anytime I saw a store in NY and wondered how it stayed in business, I always landed on … money laundering.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Love this place, it's delicious.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

sooooooo much birb poop

1 year ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

he'll sell that too as soon as he finds the right market

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

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1 year ago (deleted Aug 26, 2025 3:12 AM) | Likes 0 Dislikes 0

probably processed to heck and back

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Composted bird poop has long been a key to fertilizer and agriculture. In 1856 the US government passed the Guano Islands Act to annex any unclaimed islands to harvest the bird guano it was a big reason US navy has been everywhere it was to steal poop :3

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I love the business model of "rent pigeons to people to release them at events then spend $0 on retrieving them because they will fly right back to the shop when they're done"

1 year ago | Likes 581 Dislikes 1

That's brilliant honestly

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Dude could sell the building and retire whenever he wanted but he keeps going because he loves it

1 year ago | Likes 19 Dislikes 0

story time! I found a pigeon with a band on his leg in my parking lot at work. looked up the band information, was able to find the club. contacted the club, they gave me the trainers info. drove the pigeon at night to a one-armed military vet who had a whole coop. he told me it probably got scared off course by a hawk and told me that the other pigeons can bring a lot of money. then hefted the pigeon in his hand and said "well probably not this one" lol

1 year ago | Likes 56 Dislikes 1

1 year ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

I mean, you still Ave to feed them for the day, and also there is a non-zero risk of one or two not making it back because they picked the wrong balcony to rest on before continuing to fly home.

1 year ago | Likes 62 Dislikes 0

You really pigeon holed that one

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

No business operation is without risk.

1 year ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 0

Never had a business model go from mazing 0% sense to 100% sense so fast

1 year ago | Likes 173 Dislikes 0

Yeah no shit. He big brained it from the start

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Sort of! Many do return but (in the US at least) many pigeons go feral. A big part of the wild population are ferals who didn't return home.
A good source for those who want more pigeon chat:
https://www.alieward.com/ologies/columbidology

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

And some get eaten by Falcons.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I mean all pigeons are feral, given that they were one a domestic animal used by humans. They're just really confused why we hate them now

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 1

Yes, and! They've made large populations with the wild form of the bird more commonly called Rock Doves. There are often both the domestic/feral and wild types in many of our city populations and

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

They were bred and used as a quick and easy way of getting fresh poultry in cities. And then we just....stopped using them for that? After that they largely went feral and became associated with eating trash, which, fucks sake, we domesticated them for cities and then abandoned them in said cities, no shit they lacked survival mechanisms for the wild and went after the easiest food. Now we just treat them as pests, mostly, and it feels super fucked up that we would.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

we do still eat some of them- squab is baby pigeon and is one of those fancy foods. I hear in Egypt and a few other countries they eat the adult birds (according to the late Anthony Bourdain: delicious when stuffed with rice and heavily seasoned and roasted)

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 3

Lol. True.

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 1

Not gonna lie; I thought he was Bruce Willis at first glance.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Ok, but what is he selling them for besides wedding rentals? Who tf is buying pigeons?

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"Pigeon rentals: because who needs a deposit when you can just count on the birds flying back to the coop?"

3 months ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"The thing that keeps them open is owning the building", so they're saying he would make more money just renting the building out...

1 year ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 1

Probably, as long as they pay on time and it doesn't remain vacant long.

This guy could have human tenants, but decided he'd rather host birds and cats. Hard to argue with that.

1 year ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 0

Yea but then he'd be a landlord

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

NOT being a landlord when you hold property hurts tenants more.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 6

Landlords existing hurts tenants more. Parasites are not needed in a healthy economy.

1 year ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Someone doesn't understand basic supply and demand.

He already owns the property. Him not renting it out makes rent higher for renters.

What do you think will happen to tenants if every landlord did like him?

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 4

What do you think will happen to tenants if we got rid of landlords entirely? I get that you're mad he isn't oiling the orphan-crushing machine as efficiently as possible and it's making the crushing slower and more painful, but that's not the point here.

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Pigeons used to be friends, we relied on them for many things, until invention and spread of telegraph made them redundant. And so they were released, but because they were living with humans for so long they didn't know how to live in the wild, this is one of the reasons why they are in cities and populated areas, they are still somewhat dependant on us.

1 year ago | Likes 80 Dislikes 2

I hope this doesn't burst your bubble but we also ate them a lot...

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Well, yeah. As you do with friends.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Yeah, once they stopped being useful we dumped them and call them a problem, like humans do everything. Such as the workers we brought over to build our cities and railroads (USA). Once we got the stuff built they were garbage to us. Terrible species, do not recommend.

1 year ago | Likes 34 Dislikes 2

It could be argued that humanity abandoning domesticated species constitutes breach of contract.

1 year ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 0

Idk about you but pigeons are STILL MY FRIENDS

1 year ago | Likes 8 Dislikes 0

Yeah, often times annoying friends but nevertheless friends

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

used to be? never stopped here.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Not quite true. Almost, but not quite. Pigeons, originally known as rock pigeons (as opposed to wood pigeons), are well-adapted to urban environments due to their ability to find food and suitable nesting sites in cities which mimic their natural cliffside habitats. Our slovenly habit of discarding food, helps them thrive in areas where other birds might struggle.

1 year ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 1

They are well adapted to urban environments due to us keeping them in urban environments

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Well, I would say that it is they who chose to stick around.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"the thing that keeps them open is owning the building" theeerrrre it is

1 year ago | Likes 508 Dislikes 3

Petit Burgeoise

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

stolent comment Dude could sell the building and retire whenever he wanted but he keeps going because he loves it

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Yeah, but the taxes must be killer.

1 year ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Hey, imo that should be the way all businesses are ran.
like 90% of the cost of living crisis is 'cause of how much people have to pay wealthy cunts, for the privilage of using their wealth, just to stay alive.
Rent (and other similar ways people with wealth "tax" you) is completely non productive, it's a money sink on the economy, and is the reason why, globally, everything is going to shit.

1 year ago | Likes 33 Dislikes 0

The point is that this is a building in NYC. This guy presumably bought it decades ago. The building is probably worth far more than the business. "Buying a building to run your weird little niche business out of" is not a path that exists for anyone trying to make their way now.

1 year ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 1

Exactly, and my point is that it SHOULD be a path again.
It's only NOT because of the mega-rich who own too fucking much of said wealth. (thanks to neoliberalism)

On a side note, i'd be willing to bet that this dude would make MORE money if he just rented out his shop as a busness estate, and he woudn't have to work a minute to earn that income.
So power to him for doing something he enjoys, and actually being productive with his wealth.

1 year ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 0

He might, but something tells me that if he's been selling pigeons out of there for a decade or more and has had a rat problem, it might need some expensive renovation to be up to code lol

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

rats and roaches are a constant in NYC, he just offset the $1000/month in exterminator costs to cats instead of jimmy da pest guy.

1 year ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

At least he's honest. I fucking hate dishonest businesses, just tell us how it is. It took me 30 years to pay off my home, Once I did I ran my software company out of it for years and years afterwards (illegally because it was zoned for residential not business) because I didn't have rent to pay anymore, I could afford to do it. Pull your bootstraps shit up is just that, shit. You're not supposed to ever succeed.

1 year ago | Likes 125 Dislikes 2

The whole point of the saying "pull yourself up by your boot straps" is supposed to be illogical. It's impossible. How would you lift yourself up by pulling on your own boots.

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

He's not just honest, he sounds like an actual working joe who's pissed at the fact that rent is so high. Just flat out "I could never in a million years." I mean, pigeon-seller isn't exactly a high rate of income, he's hardly a landlord lol

1 year ago | Likes 25 Dislikes 0

The only good landlord. Landlord to a shitload of pigeons

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

"It is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps."
- Martin Luther King, jr.

1 year ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

Damn.

1 year ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

The Zillow estimate is $1,148,800

1 year ago | Likes 57 Dislikes 0

also, we share a hobby looking up homes on zillow that I can never ever ever afford

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

That place was a war zone in the 80s/90s no way that guy paid 1.1 million. He probably got it for maybe 50k and got a thirty year tax abatement.

1 year ago | Likes 45 Dislikes 0

Thats the point .jpg

1 year ago | Likes 28 Dislikes 0

stolent comment Dude could sell the building and retire whenever he wanted but he keeps going because he loves it
that makes what he does even more impressive

1 year ago | Likes 10 Dislikes 0

He’d have to move pretty far away. 1.1 million near NYC isn’t retirement money.

1 year ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0