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?)
