Adweek was out and about in the neighborhood interviewing us locals. Several different perspectives come into play. They were definitely going for the anti-Starbucks voice, and they got it. Very calm and logically explained, its the comment trolls that just assign anyone around here with the Hipster label… making it a bad word, commenting irately. Fine then, we will just assume that all of the haters live in apartment/condo/duplex complexes parked behind some strip mall plaza in the middle of nowhere.
Quick history: for many years Williamsburg was devoid of corporate branding. It felt independently strong, with all of the old time businesses and newer businesses operating side-by-side. This is of course after all of the criminal of the bike gangs got squashed, and the drug dealers, and no good thugs got pushed out… when 80 something year old Marie (who was born on Marcy Ave.) could finally breathe a sigh of relief. Who remembers walking home from their restaurant job in the city, with wine key in hand?
Newsweek called in for an interview, they along with the WSJ have made this a National News story… meanwhile, the Gaza strip is an ongoing hot mess, to say the very least. But alas, the quality of our local community is an important topic, and so is the support of small business.
Most of the local coffee shops, including the West, understand that what we offer and what the corporate giant packages are two different products. Yet, we must admit that Starbucks made coffee a national ‘thing’ on a more refined level, and where local shops come into play is to continue that refining practice that SB struggles with because of their cantankerous size.
WG News wrote a great piece about the signaling shift to corporate franchises claiming their stake in New York City’s most loved and hated neighborhood. Topping the article off with a fitting Mae West quote:
The Gotham heavy weight weighs in on the corporate giants invading our neighborhoods, and their locally businesses. And no, menu changes have nothing to do with Starbucks, and we’re not phasing out our sandwiches, probably adding new selections. (and we now have Charcuterie) We’re happy that the onlinosphere is including us in its coverage of the gluttonous green lady laying down its crab-hands in the hood. So often in today’s media glut, news junkies just want to know what’s new or what got shuttered. How about we support stability?
