What Does Bed Stuy Need?
Question to all current Bed Stuy residents or those interested in moving to Bed Stuy. What types of goods and services are lacking in the neighborhood? Specifically the area around the Utica Train Stop (Stuyvesant Heights). Where would you like to spend your money but can’t because those things aren’t offered in the immediate area?
Question to all current Bed Stuy residents or those interested in moving to Bed Stuy. What types of goods and services are lacking in the neighborhood? Specifically the area around the Utica Train Stop (Stuyvesant Heights). Where would you like to spend your money but can’t because those things aren’t offered in the immediate area?
less white people??!?!?!!
Yes that’s EXACTLY what Bed Stuy needs more of:
more intolerance, fear and xenophobia.
THAT will make things better.
More organic produce, more affordable restaurants, less hipsters and less white people. Lets not be mistaken, its not about gentrification, it’s about (white)ification. More white people come in, and gently push out the black folks and the families. It’s a tight knit family community with a beautiful culture and history, it’s disappearing…sadly…
More organic produce, more affordable restaurants, less hipsters and less white people. Lets not be mistaken, its not about gentrification, it’s about (white)ification. More white people come in, and gently push out the black folks and the families. It’s a tight knit family community with a beautiful culture and history, it’s disappearing…sadly…
I have said it before and i will say it again–People looking to invest in the stuy should seriously consider fulton street where the foot traffic is ALWAYS high and most people walk to or through to get to the subways–I believe a BID has just been approved for the areas between franklin and new york ave. You would be drawing foks from clinton hill, crowne heights and bed stuy–open a restaurant–that area needs more than just bush baby, steam tables, the many many many patty restaurants (delicious but way too many of them)and the 10 fast food chicken places.
MM is smart to look at who’s thriving and who’s failing, and think about why. So many people think that businesses will fail in Bed Stuy because there’s not enough density, or because there’s not enough rich people, or because of crime. But really, it’s about building a market. It’s more important to be excellent when you are building a market, but a lot of businesses in Bed Stuy fall victim to the wrongheaded notion that it’s OK to suck in Brooklyn.
There are a lot of people who want to buy things in the neighborhood that they usually import from Manhattan or other neighborhoods in Brooklyn along their commute. But choosing to bring your dollars home can’t feel like a sucker’s game, or people won’t do it. It’s easy to pick up a bottle of wine in Manhattan, but once I get home and decide to trust Olivino, I have made it difficult to get a bottle of wine if Olivino flakes on me. So it is *more* important for Olivino to be open when they say they will, and have decent stock, than you’d think. Olivino is great about this, so I consistently choose to spend there. But if they decide they are closed one night, or decided to stop stocking cheap bottles, or whatever, I will feel really screwed, and will start protecting myself by buying my wine in Manhattan, like I used to.
Peaches, in addition to making both black and white people equally comfortable, is great at being reliable. I know that I can get a burger, or catfish and grits, with no hassle and good vibes, every day except Monday, with no BS, bad food, long waits, or lame waiters. Tip Top, Tiny Cup–similarly reliable and revisitable: they have something you genuinely want, are consistently open and don’t tend to disappoint with dumb problems, bad service, not having what you need/expect, etc.
Saraghina seems to be doing really well with being reliably good and open, but their waitstaff is too foreign to make all kinds of people feel comfortable. (this shouldn’t matter, but almost every single time I have eaten there, I have been seated next to a very uncomfortable table of diners who I believe are reacting to the fact that their waiter can’t quite speak English)
Solomon’s Porch was awful in terms of reliability and repeatability. The food there was an afterthought. It was closed at weird times.
Any business would do well in Bed Stuy, provided the owners:
1. care so much about what they were offering that they will go out of their way to ensure that many different kinds of people are welcome and comfortable in their place.
2. are committed to being aggressively competent and reliable.
3. And understand that the competition is not whatever else is in Bed Stuy–it’s Manhattan.
The point is not to be anti-corporate. In fact, what I can’t get at Brownstone Books, I’ll order from Amazon. The point is that most chains introduce a non-personal product, in many cases not as good as a small store can offer with an owner who has first hand knowledge of the neighborhood, it’s people and it’s needs. It’s also more satisfying to shop when you can look the owner/your neighbor in the eye. I personally prefer a small-scale shopping experience. Heather, you can live in the mall, and eat and wear generic. You won’t know if you’re in Commack or Clifton, but that will be ok with you. I’ll take mom and pop, and my neighbors, and try to keep the unique personalities of different neighborhoods alive by supporting small businesses. Additionally, you’ll find community pride and participation in a small business. By the way, my husband has a small store and gives all his employees health insurance.
It is annoying how people in New York, a town where most everyone works in finance or media, have pretensions of being anti-corporate.
Barnes & Noble and Starbucks give their employees HEALTH INSURANCE. Is it so wrong to want some retail businesses in a brownstone neighborhood that do so? Is it so wrong to support them? I think a Barnes & Noble and a Starbucks would probably serve a lot more of the neighborhood than a free-range butcher.
I agree, a bank would be good. Pharmacies, I think Bed Stuy already has, (although I’m not familiar with Utica stop.) And there’s a Petco on Fulton.
We need a bank and a pharmacy. The bank is the only chain I can think of that I would welcome. Except for Whole Foods. But I’d rather a small locally-owned natural foods store like Butternut. We need a pet-supply place.
Keep the chains out! No Starbucks, no B&N. It’s the beginning of the end of every charming neighborhood. We have Brownstone books, and we have Bread Stuy.