Monday, August 29, 2011

The Bean is now apparently opening on every corner in the East Village

Last week, we reported that the Bean was opening at the Crazy Landlord building on Second Avenue and East Third Street...

[Via The Bean on Facebook]

... and they just opened on Broadway and East 12th Street...

Now EV Grieve regular Esquared sends this along... sign went up today on First Avenue at Ninth Street, the former home of Anjelica's Herbs ...


The upper levels will soon be home to luxury apartments.

AND. According to their Facebook page, they will remain at Third Street and First Avenue, their original location.

23 comments:

Melanie said...

I just saw this today!!I like The Bean. They have great coffee and I love coffee!!

Anonymous said...

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. One coffee shop (Mud) is already annoying enough on our block. Two? GET OFF MY LAWN KIDS.

chris flash said...

Better a neighborhood business than another bank or corporate chain....

EV Grieve said...

Agreed, Chris... a pretty aggressive growth plan too...

OWR said...

Probably buying up real estate so that Starbucks can buy them and get them out of the way (Rememebr Pasqua's anyone?)

Anonymous said...

Actually, I don't think their coffee is particularly fine. Their baked goods are typical, and the classic rock radio is annoying. But they are handy in a pinch.

Dr Gecko said...

Starbucks started out as a neighborhood place, too, with lousy coffee and undistinguished baked goods.

There are local (NYC) mini-chains with better coffee (Grumpy's; most locally on Essex).

Faith Holland said...

Wasn't it the Bean that had huge back taxes problems earlier this year? I was surprised at the second location...how are they doing all of this?

Anonymous said...

that's a strange amount of quick growth. must be stressful for the owners.

glamma said...

no problem with this whatsoever. lol

glamma said...

(I'm just a human bean)

Anonymous said...

it's obnoxious, two chains on the one block (on my block, no less). and their coffee/pastries are underwhelming.

Guy said...

Hi Everyone --

It's a pretty exciting time for The Bean and we wanted to let the East Village community know what's going on.

The Plan: we're opening two more cafes around the East Village. We don't really think of this as an "aggressive" business move as The Bean remains an independently owned and operated neighborhood business. We haven't "sold out" or "gone corporate" and we've had this expansion in mind for sometime. Our cafes' walls will still feature the artwork and photography of East Village artists and photographers and, ultimately, we're super excited to be able to service more of our friendly & loyal customers in the East Village -- old and new -- whether they're just stopping in for a quick cup of coffee or penning the next great American novel sitting in one of our cafes.

As one of the commenters pointed out: we'd rather open a business to service the neighborhood than have another bank or fast food restaurant further de-characterize the East Village.

The Bean remains committed to our customers, their dogs and -- as always -- we're open to suggestions. Just no poetry readings. :)

Guy
General Manager, The Bean

Anonymous said...

It is a little bit obnoxious, you're right. Take it eassssy, Bean. One at a time.

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

The creation of a thousand locations is in one bean.

Anonymous said...

Why no poetry readings? C'mon, with the Poetry Project at St. Mark's just down the street, Guy General Manager has to know he's going to offend the potential poetry demographic with that...

Anonymous said...

the crowd at the existing bean is bloodless and sucks

Anonymous said...

the only reason starbucks brought out pasqua was because pasqua had sandwich making expertise.

after starbucks brought them out, guess what, they itnroduced quality sandwiches at many locations.

Kurt said...

"the crowd at the existing bean is bloodless and sucks"

VAMPIRES?! Damn, they are everywhere these days.

Anonymous said...

is a restaurant/cafe/whatever with more than one location necessarily a "chain"? to me, thats a derogatory term related to super franchised corporate beasts. a franchise is sold to any outside operator w/ the cash. to me = "chain". a business w/ more than one location = trying to make a living.

Anonymous said...

Nice touch to have the Bean's GM comment on this blog, very local indeed...pulleease

2 new shops in the neighborhood opening simultaneously is clearly aggressive, especially since one is on the same block as Mud

The amount of money it takes to pull this off is huge. Market saturation is a ruthless corporate strategy, mom & pop shops don't have the resources and are usually a bit more sensitive to their neighborhood...no way is it indepedent

Anonymous said...

Welcome to 1st and 9th st Bean. So glad something is going to open in that space. Get that scaffolding down as soon as you can. Good luck, Will This little Piggy had roast beef.

Steve said...

So gosh, now that they're that much closer to me I might even go there - if they only had coffee I would want to drink. . .
Far better that a cafe, even one serving mediocre coffee, be in that location than a bank, nail salon, fast food franchise, frat boy bar, etc. Or Starbux. Cafes are about the least obnoxious use of retail space imaginable, so I'm really not sure what the complaints are about.