Photo last week by Stacie Joy
The owners of Boris & Horton announced yesterday that their ambitious crowdfunding and subscription plan was a success, and the city's first dog-friendly cafe will remain open.
On Feb. 16, daughter-father co-owners Logan Mikhly and Coppy Holzman announced that the cafe was closing on Feb. 26 after six years of anchoring the NW corner of Avenue A and 12th Street. An outpost that opened last year in Williamsburg was also shutting down.
Bottom line: They weren't making enough money, and as Holzman told NY1, "it's expensive to maintain top safety measures for a dog-friendly restaurant required by the Department of Health."
However, the unwavering support of the cafe's fans turned the tide. They devised ideas to keep the business going, such as selling subscription boxes filled with dog treats and merchandise from Boris & Horton's line of dog treats and toys ... plus mugs, t-shirts, baseball caps, etc.
Boris & Horton hit their $250,000 goal from Friday to midnight Sunday.
First, though, both outposts will temporarily close. Late last week, the co-owners said some of the money would go for capital improvements, including replacing the air conditioning at the Avenue A space and giving it a deep clean. They also plan to hire management to streamline B&H operations.
From an Instagram post yesterday announcing the news:
Thank you so much to everyone who supported this campaign. We're thrilled that both locations will be reopening in the coming weeks, and we'll be sharing more details on what to expect very soon. We're humbled and grateful, and we can’t wait for what's to come.
Boris & Horton opened here in February 2018 and expanded into the storefront next door later that year.
Previously on EV Grieve:
That is impressive! Congrats!
ReplyDeleteA here I’d thought we’d reached Peak Dog.
ReplyDeleteCat lovers of the world, unite!
Good for these guys! Congrats! It sounds like they're making the wise move to bring in some mgmt to streamline ops and hopefully will bring on a consultant to think through things like that "furcharge", partnerships, and other opportunity areas.
ReplyDeleteSince I know the B&H people come through here: As you go through this process, consider how you might turn this experience into a small course/seminar for other business owners who need to turn their operations around. It could be a good way to recoup some expenses and to present a good model to other businesses of the same level. Throwing this out there now since it's a lot easier to track your journey now, at the relative start of it than in 9-12 months when hopefully you're talking about the success story of revisiting the biz model.
So glad to hear this!!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness they didn't have to bring in that guy from Bar(k) Rescue.
ReplyDeleteone time i tried to buy a coffee using the takeout window on the 12th st side and was informed that this window was only for people who are accompanied by dogs (there was no line and hardly anyone inside). i laughed and turned around, never went back. i also hate that they use the acronym B&H, the real B&H is just a couple blocks away and has been a neighborhood staple since the mid 1900s
ReplyDeleteB&H is the electronic super store, no wait it’s a bagel shop. Marv maybe it’s time to see a therapist if you feel the need to publish that comment
DeleteI'm actually kind of shocked they were able to raise so much over a single weekend. I thought for sure there was no chance they'd make such an ambitious goal, but I'm happy they did.
ReplyDeleteCan anyone confirm they hit $250k? I saw it at around $150k at 1pm on Sunday.
DeleteI am so glad they raised the money! I do hope they consider shutting down the Brooklyn outpost. If you can't keep the original location in the condition it needs to be in, it isn't wise to open a second location. That $250,000 will go quickly. If they can use this money to get the original location back on track, maybe they can expand down the road through franchising. Wishing them the best of luck!
ReplyDeleteGood. I hope they are able to put the business on a more stable footing going forward.
ReplyDeleteLove that they were able to stick around. This place holds close to my heart. Ideally they remove the power outlets like most cafes, so that people don’t come and sit there all day. I’ve seen people come, leave their stuff ( even their dog), go get lunch and come back like a hour later. Ridiculous.
ReplyDeleteThis is all so absurd to me that a failing business can raise a quarter of a million dollars in 72 hours and Gizmos and Lucy's real neighborhood institutions will likely close and noone gave them a red cent. I guess it's a reflection of the new neighborhood demographics. Also helps that one of the owners, the father, made his living in marketing and PR.
ReplyDeleteYes!!
DeleteAnd Merchants house is going to disappear and the tenants from 14 th street are displaced. But the dog coffee shop makes 250, 000 in crowd funding. Nice new neighborhood.
DeleteLucy's could likely raise the same amount of money if they needed to, but there are larger existential issues there: skyrocketing rent, no lease, probably building owner wishes to destroy the building. Gizmo's looks like a worthy business, but I haven't seen any kickstarter from them or anything of the sort so it's not really a fair comparison.
ReplyDeleteBeyond anything though, B&H provides a community space and that space is valued by the community. That's what's going on here, not some marketing/PR ploy, not some "demographics changing" (which is just racial code for too many white people anyway), it's just that a lot of people value what B&H provides to them.
We'll see if they still value it after the owners make some necessary business model changes, but that's the reality.
From what I've read, Gizmo is facing a steep rent increase. Because that involves a significant increase in recurring costs, that's not fixable with a GoFundMe. It seems that they felt they could manage the move to their planned new location on their own--it didn't fall through for lack of funds, but because the building was abruptly sold. I would expect, though, that if they found another location and needed help to manage, e.g., extended storage costs, they would get support.
ReplyDeleteOther cafes close all the time without generating the same degree of community concern. B&H offers something people value. And it's not like having dogs was invented by neighborhood gentrifiers. The EV has a long tradition of dog ownership.
@"this is all absurd to me..." 8:23pm:
ReplyDeleteGizmo's wasn't offered a new lease at their location; they said that. They haven't asked for any fundraising. If you think they would like that, you should reach out to them and ask if you can help get that set up for them. I imagine that the community would also turn out for them, if they asked.
This is one thing that Gizmo's did ask for in the article, so perhaps we could all share this and see if anything pans out for them:
Rosa asked community members if they knew of any space in the neighborhood that might work for Gizmo, specifically: "A small storefront, with easy accessibility for differently-abled patrons. We would love to stay on the Lower East Side!"
Contact info for them: (212) 477-2773 or email: gizmocorp@aol.com.
Dogs are people too
ReplyDeleteThey were at $248K a little before midnight on Sunday, at least according to the site.
ReplyDelete@ 1:32 p.m.
ReplyDeleteYes, they made their $250K goal... they announced it on Instagram. And it's the reason they said they are able to stay open...
We definitely need a Cat Cafe.
ReplyDelete