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davis_squareI went to most of tonight's community meeting about World of Beer and the Social Security Buliding. My impressions follow. If you also attended, please add your comments to this post.
- The landlord wants to subdivide the space into three stores. The front would become a Petco, with entrance on Elm Street. The middle would become World of Beer, with entrance on Chester Street. He has no definite plans or tenant for the back, which presumably would also be entered from Chester Street.
- The prospective franchisee is from Florida. He wants to open 11 Worlds of Beer throughout eastern Massachusetts, but he evidences little understanding of our local area. He said his tavern would differentiate from other local bars because it would not serve Bud and Miller macrobrews .... but he doesn't realize that people here are much more likely to order Sam or Harpoon by default rather than any macrobrew. He had never heard of local brewers Slumbrew or Pretty Things. He said that his tavern would be run better than "99%" of the local places, not understanding that he was insulting local business people.
- Earlier Worlds of Beer served no food and allowed people to bring their own food, but the franchise no longer works that way. This one would sell food, but the menus he passed around were pretty unimpressive.
Most of the meeting attendees had a mildly negative reaction to the presentation. Several people said that Davis Square has enough places already that serve beer, including craft beers; they mentioned Redbones, Foundry, and Five Horses, among others. One person suggested Assembly Row as a better place to locate this franchise. Another said that she knew some people in Maine who would like to rent the same space for a 'high-end' tea parlor.
I sensed a general unease with the idea of a national franchise from the South coming into the square, and a preference for retail shops over more alcohol-serving bars and restaurants.
[Earlier posts about this: one, two]
- The landlord wants to subdivide the space into three stores. The front would become a Petco, with entrance on Elm Street. The middle would become World of Beer, with entrance on Chester Street. He has no definite plans or tenant for the back, which presumably would also be entered from Chester Street.
- The prospective franchisee is from Florida. He wants to open 11 Worlds of Beer throughout eastern Massachusetts, but he evidences little understanding of our local area. He said his tavern would differentiate from other local bars because it would not serve Bud and Miller macrobrews .... but he doesn't realize that people here are much more likely to order Sam or Harpoon by default rather than any macrobrew. He had never heard of local brewers Slumbrew or Pretty Things. He said that his tavern would be run better than "99%" of the local places, not understanding that he was insulting local business people.
- Earlier Worlds of Beer served no food and allowed people to bring their own food, but the franchise no longer works that way. This one would sell food, but the menus he passed around were pretty unimpressive.
Most of the meeting attendees had a mildly negative reaction to the presentation. Several people said that Davis Square has enough places already that serve beer, including craft beers; they mentioned Redbones, Foundry, and Five Horses, among others. One person suggested Assembly Row as a better place to locate this franchise. Another said that she knew some people in Maine who would like to rent the same space for a 'high-end' tea parlor.
I sensed a general unease with the idea of a national franchise from the South coming into the square, and a preference for retail shops over more alcohol-serving bars and restaurants.
[Earlier posts about this: one, two]
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Date: 2013-04-19 03:20 am (UTC)My points are that some people seem to be really against another craft beer focused bar in Davis Sq because "there are already plenty of bars and restaurants in Davis serving beer". Dave's Fresh Pasta just opened the Spoke Wine Bar in Davis Square. It is another "bar" that focuses on wine that one can already buy in plenty of other bars in Davis Square. I did not see anyone protesting the opening of Spoke Wine bar because of the duplication of services. I realize that Dave's has been an existing business owner in the sqaure, I frequent them often, but they have no proven track record of running a bar in Davis or anywhere else. Are they more accepted because wine drinkers are supposedly better behaved or some how more desirable then craft beer drinkers?
As far as my point on chains I just feel the rhetoric here is totally inconsistent, some chains are OK but we don't want chains. I do remember when Harvard Sq was cool and funky and I do not want Davis to turn into that. I live over in Winter Hill not far from the abandoned Star Market on Broadway. I have lived here for over four years and it has always been a vacant eyesore. I know that the owner had a viable tenant of Ocean States Job Lot lined up and the city blocked that from happening, the owner then tried to have it rezoned for residential construction and the city blocked that too. So what we get is a vacant eyesore. Everybody on here and Patch talks about how great it would be to have a Whole Foods or a Trader Joe's there, guess what that is not happening any time soon. The old Foodmaster on Beacon St and the one on Alewife Brook Parkway got snapped up in a mater of weeks by Whole Foods and Stop & Shop respectively, the old Star Market on Broadway has been sitting vacant for years. If any of those companies wanted to building a store here in Winter Hill they could have done it years ago, the reality is they do not want to probably because they know it is not economically viable.
The Social Security building in Davis has been vacant for a while now, it is valuable real estate. The area is currently zoned for bars and restaurants, there are many successful examples already in the neighborhood. I would like to see World of Beers open up there as well as Petco and I would even welcome another froyo/burrito place. If somebody else wants to step up and buy this building and then rent it out at most likely a loss to a Tea Shop or whatever I am all for that too, but don't let it sit empty while you wish for a pipe dream that is never going to happen. Don't discriminate against craft beer drinkers either, they are your neighbors and coworkers.