Streetlevel: Lonelyville Makes Windsor Terrace Lonelier
Huh. Yesterday, we were reporting about cafés doing good business in Bed Stuy, so what’s going on over here? Lonelyville, a very popular coffee shop in Windsor Terrace, has shuttered its doors. Not only that, but the building, rumored to be owned by the ladies who ran Lonelyville, is for sale, handled by Massey Knakal…
Huh. Yesterday, we were reporting about cafés doing good business in Bed Stuy, so what’s going on over here? Lonelyville, a very popular coffee shop in Windsor Terrace, has shuttered its doors. Not only that, but the building, rumored to be owned by the ladies who ran Lonelyville, is for sale, handled by Massey Knakal (this downloadable Powerpoint presentation shows the three-story building on the market for $1.25 million). About the café, the consensus around the neighborhood seems to be this: big fat bummer. GMAP
I have never understood how “coffee shops” make money. In fact there are lots of businesses whose business plan includes encouraging people to loiter for long periods of time. Say what you want about Starbucks and Barnes & Noble, both contribute far more to the public good than their income presents. As far as I am concerned, they deserve a public subsidy for the bathrooms which are open to the public.
the diner next door has a sign in the window saying it will be opening as an italian coffee place or something of that ilk…I saw it on my way by the other day.
A place where you don’t interact with those around you. Where you have 250 channels but don’t talk to your neighbor, or where you surf the web and don’t acknowledge the person sitting next to you.
Whatever and whenever I wind up opening some sort of a food business, there will be no WiFi. I went into a coffee shop in Ft Greene awhile back and some guy had to get up and stretch his back, apparently he had been sitting there so long fragging away.
wtf does “the new suburbia” mean.
Good point Rob! I recently went in the Tea Lounge and realized that the place was packed, but was as quiet as a library. When I looked around, not one person was talking to another even though pressed together on couches. All were on their computers. It was profound and sad – the new suburbia.
ok here is the word on the street:
the owners sold in order to “simplify their lives”, whatever that means. They apparently had day jobs on top of running this business and didnt realize how tough that would be to manage.
the building has been sold, and the new owners will make the space into some sort of burger joint with beer + wine, so that looks promising.
I wasnt a huge fan of this place, although it was nice to have around. cute little shop, didn’t seem well run IMO and i always got the sense that the owners didnt put “their all” into it, unlike nearby crossroads who seem so involved in the neighborhood..oh well
I heard from a regular customer it was a personal matter.
maybe if people who infest coffee shops like roaches wouldd actually BUY coffee and not just sit there all day long staring at their overly priced macbooks pretending to be serious writers, places like this would stay in business.
*rob*