NYC's Mercantile Mayhem: New Serf City, 'Big Coffee' Follows 'Big Book' and The Real VCs of Silicon Valley
A newsletter about the survival of independent businesses in New York City with a focus on immigrant-owned, storefront retail and CPG enterprises.
Since I can’t decide on the perfect image for Mercantile Mayhem’s tiny square photo, I will feature a new independently owned storefront with each post. These NYC storefronts will range from “old school” and perhaps a bit rough around the edges, to the sleeker establishments. This week’s storefront is one of my favorites: Globe Slicers on the Bowery. I posted a photo on my Instagram if you want to see the gloriousness of their hand painted sign. (I met the gentleman who painted the sign years ago, he was in the middle of painting so I gave him my card thinking he would make a good story—one of the last sign painters of the city. But there was a slight communication issue and instead of calling me, he arrived at my door, paints in hand, and he was really annoyed when I explained I wanted to write about him, not hire him for a job.)
ASK A VISITOR: AMIR AMIRANI FROM LONDON, “ARE THESE ECONOMIES SUSTAINABLE?”
New York City is getting a bad rap these days as being crime-ridden, teeming with rats, piles of stinky garbage, along with being prohibitively expensive for the average person.
Ask a Visitor is the first of a semi-regular series on Mercantile Mayhem. Visitors with fresh eyes talk about our fair city’s small businesses and larger ecosystems as experienced on the street. This Ask a Visitor features London-based documentary film maker Amir Amirani, originally from Iran, co-producer of Coup 53 and founder Visible Features.
En route to Vermont and then Georgia to work on his current documentary about College Bowl, a 1960s quiz show, Amirani stopped in New York City where he’s visited 25+ times since the late 1980s. We walked around some of lower Manhattan’s swankier neighborhoods near Washington Square Park to Union Square.
Nina Roberts: First, prior to this visit, did you hear any reports in the news about New York City being dirty and dangerous?
Amir Amirani: No, I don’t hear about the dangers in New York. I travel to quite a few places around the world for work and if believed everything they said about cities, I wouldn’t go anywhere.
I come from Iran. If people believed everything they heard about Iran—I mean sadly, the problem is, they do—but every time my friends go there, English or American, they say, “Oh my God, it’s the most amazing place.”
But I did hear that there’s a massive rat problem in New York—and I’ve seen it! I’ve walked past piles of garbage where suddenly something shifts, shakes and then a hundred rats run into a building.
NR: Rats have always lived here. Do you see any drastic changes in NYC compared to previous visits as you’re walking around?
AA: You can’t escape the fact that it’s a much glossier city and the amount of wealth that is here. And the wealth sits cheek by jowl with deprivation. The disparities, the inequalities, are maybe more striking than I remember over the years.
London and New York are both becoming cities where there’s a ridiculously wealthy class and a serf class that serves them. Everyone now talks about the squeezed middle [class]. I just don’t know how sustainable these economies are, especially if incomes don’t keep up with costs.
My brain is fixed on diner breakfast prices from years ago, $6 or $7, they were insanely good and affordable. Now, you can’t have breakfast for less than $20. I don’t know how people in this city survive.
NR: You have to know where to go, but prices have definitely gone up in all the stores and restaurants.
AA: In New York, it’s just wealth, wealth, wealth. [Stops stops in front of a Morris Adjmi Architects building at University Place and 13th Street.] Who owns all this? I mean, who?
Is it up to city planners to protect the character of the city so that it doesn’t become one giant playground for the rich? In London, areas that once had working class people and its own character are now just full of rich people or the kids of rich people.
NR: Back in the day, you could be a middle class and live in this neighborhood, those days are long gone. Do these delis exist in London? [Walk into a typical deli packed to the gills.]
AA: The smallest deli here has so much abundance and so much choice. There is a place called West Side Market around the corner [from where I’m staying], I’ve never seen anything like it. The biggest chain supermarket in London would not have half the choice that is available—ten varieties of tuna salad, ten varieties of potato salad, 20 varieties of hummus, 30 verities of… who buys it? Where does it go? Way more abundance than anywhere else, and, what must be waste.
There’s such an energy in New York and everyone I know loves the diversity. I, as an Iranian, feel less seen for my Iranian-ness here, and more just as a person, like “Who are you? What do you do?” Not that’s there’s no racism here, but it’s a different kind of beast.
I’m vastly making a case for myself to move to New York.
This Q&A had been edited and condensed for clarity.
STARBUCKS CLOSURE ON ASTOR PLACE: THE BEGINNING OF THE END FOR “BIG COFFEE”?
The Starbucks on Astor Place closed on July 28 after 29 years. Yes, I’m old, I remember when this location opened! Starbucks was initially vilified by some as it spread its Seattle-based tentacles across the US, putting many old school, mom and pop coffee shops out of business. However, for better or worse, Starbucks normalized the $4, $7, $8 coffee drink (I recently discovered Coffee Project charges $1 for frothing half & half or non-dairy milk) and a US-style coffee culture. Starbucks can be credited for setting the stage for the explosion of specialty coffee shops in cities and the tiniest towns.
According to EV Grieve, an excellent website chronicling changes in the East Village, a manager told reporter Stacie Joy, "The landlords jacked up the rent so astronomically high that even corporate Starbucks couldn't pay it."
“As a standard course of business, we continually evaluate our store portfolio, using various criteria to ensure we are meeting the needs of our customers,” reads a statement from Starbucks HQ in the article, “We do not take the decision to close stores lightly.” However, according to an article in Curbed by Chris Bonanos, a representative of ASG Group, the the building’s owner, issued a statement, “We are sad they chose to leave, even as we offered a lease extension that would have allowed them to remain in their existing space at the exact same rent.”
It’s not quite clear if ASG Group’s rent extension was a month or two before a massive rent hike or another 30 year lease. Some speculate the 4,000 square foot space was too large and this location was loosing money due to it being popular with homeless people in the area using the bathroom and hanging around, employees unionizing, boycotts, or perhaps customers are yearning for smaller coffee houses like nearby Librae Bakery or La Cabra, even the Australian chain Bluestone Lane. This Starbucks closure reminds me of the toppling of “Big Book”, see below, and potentially “Big Grocery” with the emerging Whole Foods Market Daily Shops.
BIG COFFEE FOLLOWING BIG BOOK
Similar to Starbucks, big, beefy Barnes & Noble and Borders Books caused many small book shops to shutter at the time of their rapid expansion in the 2000s. But Borders filed for bankruptcy in 2011; Barnes & Noble has reduced its number of stores and is now trying to model itself after independent book sellers. Amazon remains strong, estimated to sell more than 50% of printed books in the US. While there is no immediate cure for buying books online (bookshop.org is an Amazon alternative) a certain segment of book buyers seem to be yearning for physical spaces around books. Recent book launches and conversations at PowerHouse Arena and McNally Jackson for The New York Pigeon and Tehrangeles, proves the point.
There are now more than 100 independent bookstores throughout NYC and while it’s certainly not easy, they are surviving, some even thriving. I can’t help but think it’s a backlash against, yes, Big Book.
A few wonderful bookstores in New York City: McNally Jackson Books, Books Are Magic, Greenlight Bookstore, Yu and Me Books, P&T Knitwear, Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks, Archestratus Books & Foods, PowerHouse Arena, Adanne, Kitchen Arts & Letters, Mercer Street Books, The Strand, BEM books & more, Argosy Book Store, The Lit Bar, Three Lives & Co, The Ripped Bodice, Cafe Con Libros, Book Culture, Book Club; a comprehensive list can be found on nycbookstores.org.
THE REAL VCs OF SILICON VALLEY
Wow, someone needs to produce a reality TV show: The Real VCs of Silicon Valley. Heated debates about ethics, politics and social issues have spilled out onto Twitter/X between investors, startup founders and prominent VCs. The feuding was ignited by a small yet high profile group of VC’s public who came out in support of Trump. I wrote about it here last week and this New York Times article by Ryan Mac, Erin Griffith and Mike Isaac is a concise recap of what has transpired since.
There’s a new wrinkle in the tech and VC world. Venture Capitalist Reid Hoffman is an enthusiastic supporter of Vice President Kamala Harris yet doesn’t like Lina Khan, Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) who has been fighting against monopolies, including tech. Another big Democratic donor Barry Diller is also against Khan (both Reid and Diller have connections to companies being investigated by Khan, writes William Gavin in Quartz). Vinod Khosla also thinks Khan should go. But guess who has sung her praises? Oddly enough, none other than JD Vance.
If anyone is having a difficult time wrapping their head around billionaires raising and donating such enormous sums of money for political causes and/or politicians, this Brennen Center article “Citizens United Explained” by Tim Lau from 2019 article about PACs and super PACs is a good explainer.
OFFICER WHO SHOT SONYA MASSEY HAD HISTORY OF BULLYING
A short article I wrote (no connection with small business) for the Guardian about the officer Sean Grayson who shot Sonya Massey in the face, in her kitchen, outside Springfield, Il. It turns out that Grayson had a disciplinary file, which included bullying behavior and lying in his reports. Why was Grayson allowed to work in law enforcement?
MERCANTILE MAYHEM NEWSLETTER SPONSORSHIP
Do you care if the city becomes full of Sweetgreens, Chipotles and bank ATM locations? If you care about independent businesses, I am still looking for two additional sponsors—individuals, businesses, organizations or foundations—who believe in the survival of independent businesses. Sponsors, like the extraordinary Accompany Capital get a footer, which is viewed by all sorts of brilliant people working in various sectors. If you would like to know the rates and newsletter stats, please email me: ninarobertsnyc@gmail.com and I’ll send you the details. Please forward this newsletter to others.
Some of you have paid for subscriptions via Substack, thank you so much!
OPPORTUNITIES
🇫🇮 Founders to Finland—Slush Edition is a 7-day program for established startup founders who want to expand to Finland and beyond, geared for founders who have completed Series B or C funding. It runs November 18 - 23, 2024 in Helsinki and includes a free pass to Slush. Participants need to cover all other expenses—airfare, hotel and food. Deadline is August 8, 2024, read more about the program and apply here.
🇫🇮 VCs and LPs who want to explore investment opportunities in Finland and beyond can apply for the Venture Nordics Program in Helsinki, November 15 - 21, 2024. The program includes meet and greets with founders, VCs and LPs, and a free ticket to Slush. Participants pay for airfare, hotel and food; deadline is August 18, 2024. Read more about the program and apply here.
Applications are open for the prestigious Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans that pays for one to two years of graduate study. I have interviewed several recipients of this fellowship, they are amazing people and seriously high achievers. Fun fact: Vivek Ramaswamy received a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship—such an honor and privilege—but tried to distance himself from it when he was a Republican presidential candidate. Likely due due to the Soros name (evil do-gooders) and because this fellowship was open to him because he’s the child of immigrants and contrary to his rabid anti-DEI stance. Apparently Ramaswamy even tried to have it scrubbed from his Wikipedia page.
Immigrant founders, find your people and network through the Unshackled Ventures community. Unshackled Ventures is VC fund based out of the Bay Area cofounded by Manan Mehta and Nitin Pachisia, apply here.
This is such a great eclectic resource Nina!
Thank you for keeping us so well informed!
Remember how horrified we all were when Starbucks first appeared in the East Village?