A sure sign of a gentrified neighborhood is a Starbucks on the corner (every corner). But they are about to overthrown in New York State. You’ve heard it here first. Muddy Cup is breeding faster than Starbucks.
I see from the stats (Certainly not from comments. You’re a bunch of friggen mutes!) that most of our readers are in NYC. If you haven’t ventured north (or to Staten Island) you may never have heard of Muddy Cup.
The first Muddy Cup opened it’s doors in Staten Island in 2001. Partners Jim Svetz and Brian Woodward simply intended to open a neighborhood coffeehouse. Or so they say. They opened the second store in Hudson, NY. The first time I heard of them was when they popped up in Beacon, a couple of blocks from my house. Now, every time I visit an upstate town, there they are! There are 9 Muddy Cups in the towns of New Paltz, Kingston, Albany, Poughkeepsie, Catskill and Schenectady.
Unlike Starbucks, The Muddy Cup chooses areas that are merely on the verge of gentrification. As you can see from the list above, it’s mainly college or “artsy” towns.
The Beaconites I know aren’t crazy about the cafe. They say they don’t like the coffee or decor. Personally, I love the eclectic decor and I think the coffee is fine. Between you and I, I think it’s cool to badmouth Muddy Cup just as you wouldn’t want to admit that you go to Starbucks. Most of the customers at Muddy Cup, Beacon seem to be tourists.
Some of the Muddy Cup cafes are large enough to have live music and performances. Kudos to them for breathing some life into downtrodden parts of town. The Kingston branch is located on Broadway, in the seedy Midtown section.
I’ll take a small mom and pop business over a franchise any day of the week. But why should we start hating when a company becomes successful enough to expand? I’ll partake in the above mediocre coffee when there’s nothing better around, as I do with Starbucks. There’s no use in boycotting when they’ve already put the smaller coffee houses out of business. (That’s a joke. Or is it?)
9 Comments
I’ve been to the Muddy Cup in Catskill. The place has the ugliest/cool couches ever.The coffee was fine and I admire the owners’ entrepreneurship. I think they are also in New Paltz, going head to head with Starbucks.
The Catskill one is what prompted me to write this post. We were there on Saturday and I was like “WTF? There is a Muddy Cup in EVERY town we go to!”
Yes: Ugly/Cool decor. I love it!
The whole idea behind hating Starbucks is that they have put independent coffee shops out of business. But Muddy Cup (which I have yet to visit) seems to be doing the opposite–shacking up in areas that need positive traffic. Reminds me of how Ben & Jerry’s created that scoop shop off Times Square to offer men in the upstairs boarding house legit jobs. So, why should you hate Muddy Cup? Are they a franchise?
They are no Ben and Jerry! I don’t think they are a franchise. I believe the partners own all 9 stores. Why hate? Ask my husband. He boycotts them (as do other Beaconites) because they took customers from the first Beacon coffee house, now out of business. Not because of Muddy Cup, but because they wanted to devote time to their family. Anyway, people say they don’t like the coffee. I think the coffee is fine. It’s the bagels that suck.
What happened to the store in Staten Island? I miss the old Muddy Cup.
Interesting. I didn’t know it was gone. The website must not be very up to date.
I actually love the muddy cup (being a recent upstater) I guess I haven’t spent enough time up there yet to have gotten over my “omg it’s not starbucks and omg they have cozy antiques and omg no one is yelling NEXT! as I scramble to put the change into my purse after paying” excitement yet.
ps: I wonder what it says about my taste that I think all the furniture is friggin fabulous? Maybe in my defense the one in Hudson has prettier decor? Seriously I’d take most of it home if I had the chance.
I think the furniture is fabulous too! In a kitsch retro funky sort of way. I would totally put that stuff in my house!
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