Attack of the Chain Stores in Williamsburg
On Friday The Times looked at the tension arising in Williamsburg as chain stores move in. With CVS moving into The Edge, a Duane Reade already on the waterfront, and a Starbucks possibly moving onto Bedford, some residents aren’t too happy. “Williamsburg is the Berkeley of New York, says one resident. (Really?) If anyplace is…
On Friday The Times looked at the tension arising in Williamsburg as chain stores move in. With CVS moving into The Edge, a Duane Reade already on the waterfront, and a Starbucks possibly moving onto Bedford, some residents aren’t too happy. “Williamsburg is the Berkeley of New York, says one resident. (Really?) If anyplace is going to reject a chain store, it’s Williamsburg.” A Facebook group has also popped up called I’m Boycotting Duane Reade to Save Williamsburg. But another resident, a transplant from the Upper West Side, would love to see a Dunkin Donuts or Food Emporium make the move into the neighborhood. For some reason, she said of the naysayers, they don’t want corporate stores. They don’t want convenience. Demand for retail spaces are undoubtedly going up, with rising rents putting pressure on the mom and pops in the neighborhood. “It’s becoming the East Village,” says a resident, lamenting the loss of one bohemian neighborhood to the other.
Williamsburg Unhappily Graduates to Chain Store Territory [NY Times]
Fsrq – the above is NOT my personal sentiment (I don’t even live in WB) – just how I understand what the people there might be thinking. And same with my post above, was just me guessing as to why those stores (and not other chains) are acceptable. But yes, I completely agree that those so hung up on where people shop need to get a life. Also, pretty funny that the DR there gave out free flu shots last week.
>It’s interesting that DR is expanding in that fashion, especially since they were just acquired by a private equity firm.
That firm sold DR to Walgreen’s, a publicly-traded company (NYSE symbol WAG) last April, I believe.
“we don’t like that people who will actually choose a chain over a mom-and-pop now live in our neighborhood.”
I’ll never understand this point of view. There’s room for both. The best mom and pops fill a market niche and will survive regardless of competition. Marginal ones are in danger. The exact same is true for large “big box retailers.” Despite all the hysteria, if you look closely, it’s often not an either-or situation.
jessibaby – wow – well personally I wouldnt want to live in a neighborhood with anyone who would judge people on something as irrelevant as to what stores they buy their stuff at.
But given the fact that virtually everyone in the western world shops in a chain store sometimes or other (didnt you yourself list 4 or so behemoths that were acceptable to YOU?) anyone who could effect the sentiment you expressed at 3:19 is going to be one judgmental and LONELY a$$hole.
“Not commenting one way or another on their desirability but just FYI a guy I know in SF who was pissed as hell about the Burger King spewing filth next door successfully managed to get a law passed prohibiting chain stores from setting up shop in San Francisco. ”
They aren’t prohibited, just restricted. They have to hold public hearings and a commission votes on if the store is allowed to open based on what’s already in the neighborhood. A chain store would have an easier time opening in a place like Union Square, but wouldn’t be able to open in Pacific Heights, Nob Hill, or the Mission District.
Fsrq – makes sense. But, I think the sentiment here is we don’t like that people who will actually choose a chain over a mom-and-pop now live in our neighborhood.
It was said earlier…if people dont patronize these establishments, they will close – if anything publicly traded retail stores are under higher pressure to maintain and increase sales than any mom & pop.
Most of you probably werent born or in Brooklyn but there was a huge fight decades ago when Burger King wanted to open up on Montague st – the opponents lost and then a few years later when no one went to Burger King (which makes sense cause BK sucks) it closed.
By dirty_hipster on November 15, 2010 10:21 AM
The new Duane Reade is awesome.
You can buy growlers of draft beer 24 HOURS.
**
Yeah, nothing like that 5 AM snort to get things started. Or ended, depending on our timing.
Ah, I see the seal is broken (so to speak)…
Will check the DR out to see what all the fuss is about. (I happend to have a $5 coupon from that Duane Reade too that I can redeem!)