Subway coming soon

[dougo.livejournal.com]

I guess Subway finally got approval to open in the former Spün location (on Broadway near Powderhouse), because there are "coming soon" signs in the window. Also "applications accepted", in case you always wanted to work in a Subway.

(Previously, Previously.)

Comments

[svilletheatre.livejournal.com]

There were more or about the same number of chains in this neighborhood from the 50's-80's then there are now; there are multitudes of locally owned or 'independent' businesses here that were just empty storefronts years ago. Davis Square was never the 'cool indy' Harvard Square of the 60's-70's, which in size and scope was a completely different animal, it was mostly a blue collar shopping area with a Woolworths, Kresge's (KMart), Brigham's, Stop & Shop, McDonald's, Rexall Drug, Texaco, Radio Shack, Thom McAnn, West Coast Video, etc. The positive difference is that while we still have chains, the local store scene has grown and thrived along side of the chains that are here now, especially compared to many cities in Mass. We also have a lot more in terms of retail square footage available than in the past.

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

While I'm too young to remember the heyday of Harvard Square, it was still a much different beast than it is now when I frequented it in the early 1990's.

That being said, at that same time, Davis wasn't even a blip on my radar other than as a place where I could get parking any day of the week, any time of day or night. If I wanted to drink in a less crowded atmosphere than, say, Allston, it was the place to go. Because basically, Davis back then was nothing more than crackwhores and tumbleweed.

But I seem to recall that in that same timeframe, Harvard also had an almost equal amount of independent eateries and retail as it did chains as well, and the transition started equally as innocuously. I've seen a lot of independent retail (not counting restaurants) come and go from Davis in the last 20 years, but I also see a trend that's as applicable here as it was to Harvard and Newbury Street.

As an area becomes more hip and desireable, chains leave and are replaced with independent businesses. Rents, however, also increase and continue to do so as long as the area will sustain it. And slowly, independent businesses start to move locations or go out completely as they can no longer afford rent. It's a slow transition, but it's part of the life cycle of a city.

It wasn't an apocolyptic statement or an erasing of Davis's crackwhore and tumbleweed ridden (relatively recent) past. It was just. An. Observation.

[amy-s1.livejournal.com]

For those that weren't around 12 years ago, remember the stir about StarBuck moving in?

http://www.bostonphoenix.com/archive/features/99/06/24/COFFEE.html

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

LOL! I vaguely remember this but at the same time, I was pretty sure that Starbucks was going to pave over the nation and so shrugged it off.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

I sure do. (But then I remember when Starbucks bought out the local Coffee Connection.)It was soon after the Diesel opened and it seemed like a Goliath was moving in to wipe out the Diesel and Someday.

[ron_newman]

1999: "Ask for a latte at Dunkin' Donuts, and they'll chase you out with a broom."

2011: Live. Love. Latte.

[josephineave.livejournal.com]

I can just hear a Davis Square busker singing out:

Where have all the crackwhores gone?
Long time passing...
Where have all the crackwhores gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the crackwhores gone?
Work at Starbucks every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

OMG *sprofle* Thank you for this much needed laugh at the end of the day. :DDD

[svilletheatre.livejournal.com]

Mine was an observation as well, hope it was not perceived as anything more! :)

[bombardiette.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sorry. *sheepish* We were actually planning on moving back to the square in the next year (got priced out a few years back...) because my husband's new job was awesome.

But we've just found out quite recently that his company lost their contract to a union that was axed several years ago...and everyone's getting laid off in June.

So, unless something equally as good comes up, once again, our plans to get back to Davis are squashed.

ETA: I totally didn't finish that thought. So, I'm a bit tetchey right now about everything I guess. At the same time, it aggravates me when what I meant as a rather blah, whatever, it happens comment is so drastically mis-perceived. And also, it's starting to get annoying because we're in the square so often for things (I work part-time there, events, that sort of thing...) that it's getting really annoying having to drive through the traffic hell we do to get there when it would be so much easier to live there again. :(

[ron_newman]

Ian, do you remember when a Subway was across the street from the Somerville Theatre? Now it's Taipei Tokyo.