say it ain’t so, Grey Dog’s Coffee going down..?
Sucks to be right sometimes. MacnChis has been consistently saddened by the death of the West Village. Concerned about our city where franchises have become the way to do business, and small owners take a beating. But this example is new in a bad way – Grey Dog Coffee original is rumored to soon be priced out of the West Village, its famed location on Carmine Street. And in exchange, its franchises will survive.
Sitting next to a record shop, who would have thought Grey Dog would be the first to go? Between that and Stoned Crow’s closing with the new year, two more neighborhood favorites are gone.. (Mac is probably still having nightmares over being deprived of the sliders at the Crow). All this is different from places like Choptank going down, which was always more hype than substance.
So what does the neighborhood get in exchange? Well Fedora for one, whose owner has his hand in about half a dozen restaurants within a few blocks of each other. Is it me or is it the culinary equivalent of Marc Jacobs owning 4 stores on Bleecker street? And perhaps more to the point, Fedora Dorato lent history to the place.. its new owner, no disrespect intended – brings a formula from a quasi-franchise that includes Little Owl, Market Table, Joseph Leonard, Jeffrey’s (and now, Fedora).
Perhaps if Fedora Dorato franchised, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.. but what would Fedora be with part-time management? Would it be as special? There was a time I went to Grey Dog’s Coffee on Carmine with my sisters and spotted a mouse hanging off the wall.. it fell and hit my sister’s arm. You’ll understand when I say I didn’t go back for a while. But a loooong time later, I needed a casual place to meet up with friends and catch up.. the choices were thin. Where else can one go, get a pint of Coney Island Lager while his friends have a salad (yuk!), then sit and catch up while being left alone? Mouse incident forgiven. At least for me, my sister the mouse hit, may not be as forgiving!
Egalitarian places are in short supply these days.. and if the rumor of Grey Dog’s demise on Carmine is true, it’s about to get thinner.
Maybe Mayor Bloomberg will intervene.. and put a Starbucks in. We only have *8 of them in the neighborhood. ;p Oh lord, I hope I’m not right again on this one..!
Hi there.
Grey Dog isn’t being priced out because of the economy but because of our landlord! We’ll be re-opening a new location in Carmine’s place soon, so no worries.
C