Invasion of the Chain Stores?
The New York Times on Sunday proclaimed that, having already conquered Manhattan, chain stores were preparing to take over the boroughs and lay waste to the charming neighborhood feel of mom-and-pop stores in the process. The boroughs are all going down like bowling pins, says urban planner Jeanne Giordano. From where we sit, it’s a…
The New York Times on Sunday proclaimed that, having already conquered Manhattan, chain stores were preparing to take over the boroughs and lay waste to the charming neighborhood feel of mom-and-pop stores in the process. The boroughs are all going down like bowling pins, says urban planner Jeanne Giordano. From where we sit, it’s a little simplistic to generalize like that. Like architecture, the answer has a lot to do with context. While we’d hate to see places like Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Smith Street in Cobble Hill or Fifth Avenue in Park Slope get Soho-ized, at this point we think a Starbucks or a Gap would have a positive impact on the stretch of Fulton in Clinton Hill. Of course, we’d prefer a local boutique or gourmet store, but they’ve been a long time coming.
Big-Name Retail Chains Will Take the Other Boroughs [NY Times]
Bedford Stuyvesant will never be another SOHO, DUMBO or Williamsburg. It will probably be closer to what Ft. Greene, Prospect Heights and Lefferts Garden are.
Reasons why:
1.) Most of the homes are owned by the locals.
2.) Locals control the local politics.
3.) More middle class blacks are buying in the neighborhood than whites.
4.) Home prices will soon start going down in NYC prompting some adventurous artist to stop at the two main Bed Stuy borders. Or to just move back to Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.
I would agree with some of the readers on how chain stores benefit neighborhoods in someway, but what I disagree with is bringing chain stores to make a neighborhood upscale just for their own private consumption.
Brooklyn used to give you the small town feeling in a big city. I really have a problem with people trying to Manhattanize most of Brooklyn. We don’t need a Starbucks or Au Bon Pain at every corner. If anywhere in Brooklyn should be Manhattanized it should be downtown.
That’s why we have the subway, so that one can shop, work in the city and downtown then come home to peace and quiet. That’s NYC living…
jobs.
Oh, yes, let’s all bow before the gods of Competition and Service and insist that local storekeepers “do better” to deserve our money! Let me as you, good people: what have YOU done to deserve decent service from the local businesses?
When you visit your bodega, do you patronize the secret drug business that keeps it afloat, or do you just engage in yuppie whining about the dirty cans of coffee and the week-old produce? Do you give your deli counterman a generous tip at Christmas, and if not, do you blame him when he overcharges you for meat the rest of the year to make up for it? Do you insist that the hardware store clerk finish talking to his friend and assist you, or do you wait patiently for five or ten minutes, knowing that as he ignores you and talks about the Giants game, he is contributing to the fabric of the community? If you are a lady, do you take the time to pretty yourself up and perhaps show a little leg to get preferred service?
No! You just complain like good Bush-Cheney capitalists that these working people have not “earned” your business! I say that you have not “earned” courteous and competent service!
Brooklyn already has plenty of chain stores, just not the ones that make uptight mallhattanites want to put roots down.
Support what you want to see by putting your consumer dollars to work. If you want a damn $6 venti crappachino, hit the Starschmucks in the Atlantic terminal. Me, I’d rather give my joe dough to any of a number of regular places run by real people around here, and that’s what I’ll continue to do.
“Not everybody can be good at their jobs. “. Thats what competition is about. I work hard for my $, I going to get the best my $. Customer Service and selection, if either is lacking it is almost slow death.
*flee
anon 8:29…we are here. cept we’re not squatting industrial spaces like our predecessors DUMBO, etc. we’re doing our part fixing up brownstones we were luckily able to afford before the last years instead. hopefully now the artists wont glee when they can’t afford the rising rents and will benefit from the integrated hood they helped to invigorate (or destroy, depending on your politics).
David,
Not everybody can be good at their jobs. There’s got to be a place for people who are bad at them too. The guy who makes a lousy cup of coffee — where’s his place in your capitalist Brave New Brooklyn? The store clerk who doesn’t like people? The hardware store guy who just doesn’t want to try that hard? I am proud to give these good people my money, Sir — in the name of Community!
how do we get more artists to bedstuy? its apparent they’ve done their part in soho and dumbo, livings amonst the underpriveledged, removing some of the edge so other more furtunates can feel safe and develop the area and increase rents to a point where only the rich can live there. once the rents rise, the artists flee to a new frontier..in comes williamsburg. now that williamsburg has arrived, where are they off to now? pls come to bedstuy.