Who Will Win Williamsburg's Soul?

Photo via bitchcakesny's flickr

Question: If Blue Bottle Coffee became really successful and started setting up shop on every block of every major city and suburb, would the Williamsburg residents currently championing it turn their cold-hearted backs on it and procure their coffee elsewhere? Currently the creative young locals who took over the neighborhood are fighting change, which is being brought in with the new luxury condo-dwelling residents. Hipster enemy #1: Duane Reade, formerly a little store owned by three brothers, currently a chain that's been acquired by Walgreens.

The Guardian reports that the drugstore is at the center of the fight for Williamsburg's soul... a soul that allegedly was carefully crafted by the current locals, all of whom "appear to have beards, piercings, lots of tattoos and belong to at least one band. Most also tend to write a blog and spend all night drinking or involved in art projects."

One such local, 32-year-old Jennifer Nelson, told them Duane Reade "is not the kind of place that I want to shop. We simply do not need another drugstore here. It is not just an urban issue. It is a capitalism issue." Another said, "All of a sudden our little, quaint place was being infiltrated by the big brands." The Guardian wonders if "the hipster apocalypse may be nigh."

Fear not, kids, surely there is another working class neighborhood you can infiltrate, price the current residents out of, and sip your precious nel drip” coffee in ~~peace~~ angst.

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By Jen Carlson in Arts & Entertainment on December 13, 2010 5:54 PM

Comments [rss]

m015094

Williamsburg Assholes: If you don't like it, then don't shop there. If your opinion is the consensus, then they'll lose money and leave. If not, then STFU.

Brainwash

To real artists, Williamsburg is just a convenient way of having more space to work and still being able to zip into the city.

glennQNYC

CLUE: Williamsburg was probably the wrong place to transplant to if you were looking for a "little, quaint place” to live.

danny.12345

The revolution will be televised once Wal-mart breaks ground in NYC, preferably in Williamsburg.

MsCaitRose

I just really think we need a Trader Joe's

luke*

YES. DR can stay, but give me a Trader Joe's (or any supermarket with normal prices. Sorry Top's, but you suck. I think that you find a lot of your produce in dumpsters behind Key Food) too. And stop building these large, glass buildings. I like the sun. Starbucks... meh. That's one thing Williamsburg definitely does not need. They ain't cheap and their coffee sucks. The only reason they stay in business is brand recognition.

katiesmithadair

Oh. I see what you did there, with the cute analogy. Duane Reade once *was* like Blue Bottle: a teeny little family operation. But if Blue Bottle was purchased by the country's largest chain, a company with more than $67B in annual revenue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W..., would we all still feel good about choosing to spend our money there? Even if the inevitable decline in quality was somehow avoided, I'd imagine most of us would not.