C H Martin

Newark Avenue is a’changing. Just the other day an entire new block of food-​related enterprises appeared off the Avenue along Erie as if David Copperfield swooped through town (by mistake, taking the JSQ PATH instead of the Q train). There’s the second location of some Brooklyn restaurant, a butcher, an Italian espresso bar run by Italians, and maybe a bunch of other things I haven’t discovered yet. The newness is capped off by Torico, a long-​standing ice cream parlor par excellence, at 20 Erie.
Standing strong on the south side of the Avenue occupying a wide berth is the inveterate discount department store CH Martin. Hold strong, my friend, against the tide. You see, back when my uncle – wearing thick black glasses, sporting Bata chuppals, and probably 100 rupees to his name – stepped off the 747 after a 64-​hour flight from Mumbai to Newark back in the 1980s (when the «Dotbuster» gangs roamed J.C. and Edison but lost their futile battle against my rapidly multiplying tribe), he stayed for a short time in Jersey City. Like the Red Cross, only for a small fee, CH Martin provided him with warm garments to cover his skinny subcontinental frame through the cold Northeast winters.
Here’s the funny thing. I moved to J.C. about a year and a half ago. I was telling my uncle the other day about this great store on Newark Ave where you could buy practical stuff for really cheap. He’s like,“oh, yeah, CH Martin,” as matter-​of-​factly as a New Yorker wearing Canada Goose.
Hear me out, people. Why pay $ 50 for a pair of brand-​name gloves when you will end up with only one glove after a week? Why not buy five pairs of generic, moderate-​quality gloves of assorted colors for like $ 35 from CH Martin? That way, by the end of the winter you will have three non-​matching colors of gloves remaining (two right hand and one left hand). That’s a whole lot warmer and cheaper than having only one Michael Kors glove left when it’s just the second week of December.

Cheap is correct, and not a bad thing if you want summer clothing that will only be worn a few times. 100% cotton sleeveless tops in assorted bright colors for $ 1.99. And they accept returns. Why would anyone complain? Wear it and throw it out!