Requiem for a coffee shop
Jan. 3rd, 2006 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjMy favorite coffee shop has closed.
The Cuppa Cabana on San Pablo Blvd featured comfy chairs, immediate proximity to the Arizmendi bakery, and suuport for community social and artistic activities. (The walls featured an ever-changing display that ranged from relatively traditional paintings to high-concept items like watercolors painted entirely in coffee to the work of local school children.) It has been my favorite (and default) weekend morning hangout (when I wasn't out of town) for nearly two years. The baristas not only knew my by drink preference, but had gotten to the point where they'd start my drink when they saw me going into the bakery for my morning pastry and had it waiting by the time I got to their counter. (Ok, so I'm dreadfully predictable in my coffee-drinking habits.)
The times I was in there, there was a fairly steady stream of customers, if not an absolute mob. I don't know what the numbers were like on week-days. But I guess the big picture just didn't hold up. I can't feel guilty because I did support them -- by preference, not only because they were convenient but because I prefer supporting locally-owned non-chain businesses. And I talked them up to my local friends. But these things happen.
Maybe someone else will try again in that space. I believe that block of commercial property has some sort of policy encouraging non-chain tenants, so maybe it won't get Starbuckified. At any rate, I need a new weekend coffee shop.
The Cuppa Cabana on San Pablo Blvd featured comfy chairs, immediate proximity to the Arizmendi bakery, and suuport for community social and artistic activities. (The walls featured an ever-changing display that ranged from relatively traditional paintings to high-concept items like watercolors painted entirely in coffee to the work of local school children.) It has been my favorite (and default) weekend morning hangout (when I wasn't out of town) for nearly two years. The baristas not only knew my by drink preference, but had gotten to the point where they'd start my drink when they saw me going into the bakery for my morning pastry and had it waiting by the time I got to their counter. (Ok, so I'm dreadfully predictable in my coffee-drinking habits.)
The times I was in there, there was a fairly steady stream of customers, if not an absolute mob. I don't know what the numbers were like on week-days. But I guess the big picture just didn't hold up. I can't feel guilty because I did support them -- by preference, not only because they were convenient but because I prefer supporting locally-owned non-chain businesses. And I talked them up to my local friends. But these things happen.
Maybe someone else will try again in that space. I believe that block of commercial property has some sort of policy encouraging non-chain tenants, so maybe it won't get Starbuckified. At any rate, I need a new weekend coffee shop.
