![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/a6d504e1edc651e581de10bce9fb4c7fa0-happier-grocery.rhorizontal.w700.jpg\")
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\n Will Happier Grocery replace the former Smith Street Rite Aid?
\n Photo: Amy Lombard\/The New York Times\/Redux\n <\/p>\n
Okay, now there goes the neighborhood<\/a>. A company linked to Happier Grocery has purchased the former Rite Aid<\/a> on Smith Street for $21.5 million. As first reported<\/a> by Crain\u2019s, the grocer\u2019s co-owner, Dawson Stellberger, signed a deed back in January for the two-story building in Carroll Gardens. Does this mean you\u2019ll be able to wait on line for $14 mango smoothies and lamb-and-beef meatballs before ducking into the Carroll Street station? Maybe!<\/p>\n As Patch reported<\/a>, the Erewhon-aspiring store has been advertising for a grocery buyer in New York, suggesting that the company is trying to expand its local sales of Harry\u2019s Berries and koginut squash beyond its original location on Canal Street. But Stellberger, who is also the managing partner of the firm Bushwack Capital, has a background in real estate as well and has quite the portfolio of projects. His varied r\u00e9sum\u00e9 includes converting a onetime steel factory at 154 Scott Avenue into a venue and events space with his brother and Happier Grocery co-founder, Wells, and he is currently at work putting up a ten-story geothermal hotel, too. The Stellberger brothers are partners in WSA<\/a>, and their Canal Street storefront has gone well beyond just selling probiotic sodas and status fruit: There\u2019s an event space<\/a> aboveHappier Grocery called Apartment, which has hosted Ella Emhoff\u2013led knitting workshops, podcast recording sessions, and breathwork classes. \u201cYou have to buy food,\u201d Stellberger told the New York Times back in February. \u201cHow do you reimagine what that experience looks like and then allow other kinds of activities or programs to come alongside that as well, to make it even more of a rich experience?\u201d<\/p>\n Rite Aid left the Smith Street location in 2025, when it declared bankruptcy for a second time, and the commercial space has been empty since. (The building has five apartments above the retail space.) Brownstoner reported<\/a> last month that the new owners could in theory construct at least a four- or five-story building, potentially even higher if setbacks and affordable housing come into the fold. The Stellberger-linked firm did get approved for a $5 million construction loan, but there\u2019s no sign yet what any of that might go toward. Maybe building out a podcast studio there, too?<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Curbed Newsletter<\/p>\n A daily mix of stories about cities, city life, and our always evolving neighborhoods and skylines.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n