Chick-fil-A Opening First Harlem Location On 125th This Winter

HARLEM, NY — There's no shortage of fried chicken joints in Harlem, but the neighborhood will soon have a new, less familiar option: Chick-fil-A.

The Southern chicken sandwich specialists will open a new shop this winter at 216 West 125th St., the company told Patch. An exact opening date was not provided.

The store will be based out of a two-story building between Frederick Douglass and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. boulevards, across the street from the block that includes the Apollo Theater.

The building, formerly home to Ashley Stewart, has been under renovation in recent months, and the Curious Uptowner reported Monday that signage for Chick-fil-A had appeared. The new location has been listed on Chick-fil-A's website since at least May.

"We look forward to joining the community and to serving all of our guests delicious food in an environment of genuine hospitality," the company said in an email.

This will be the first Harlem location for the Atlanta-based chain, which first arrived in New York City in 2015 with a shop in Midtown. It now has a dozen locations in the city, with the most recent shop opening in Washington Heights in May.

Not all New Yorkers have been thrilled by Chick-fil-A's slow encroachment into the city. Run by a conservative Christian family, the company has donated millions of dollars to groups opposing same-sex marriage, prompting efforts to boycott the chain.

Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed boycotting Chick-fil-A when it announced plans to open at the Queens Center mall in 2016, though its New York City locations appear to have run mostly without incident in recent years.

While the company later stopped most of its donations to anti-LGBT groups, it appeared again the headlines last year, when The Daily Beast revealed company owner Dan Cathy is a "high-dollar donor" to a charitable foundation bankrolling opposition to The Equality Act, which would enact a federal ban on LGBTQ-based discrimination.

Still, some New Yorkers have opted to show the company some tolerance.

"Me, a lesbian with no self-control, is incredibly excited," one Washington Heights resident told Patch ahead of Chick-fil-A's arrival uptown in May.

Have a Harlem news tip? Contact reporter Nick Garber at [email protected].