Shopping Local and the Death of Truffles
Part One in the Death of Truffles Series
In a way, my lamenting the demise of Truffles coffee shop in Edgewater would seem a bizarre case of reverse NIMBYism, since I haven't lived in Edgewater since June of 2000. It's a big regret of mine that in the 3 post-Montana years that I was living in Northeast Ohio I didn't just move back to Edgewater: it was always clearly the place I wanted to be. The fact that I lived in Ravenna, and then Cleveland Heights, and then Shaker Heights, was really a measure of how willing I am to torture myself into not having what I really want.
The comment directly under mine in George's post set me to thinking: shopping local really isn't the magic panacea that its proponents - and that includes myself - wish that it was.
While I was in library school at Kent State, the venerable and historic Brady's coffee shop shut down amidst rumors that the building was going to be torn down and a gas station built on its ruins. (This never happened; a Starbucks moved in instead.) Brady's was never empty. My Generation, that old record store of choice for grungy hipsters, was never empty. Danny Boy's farm market was never empty (granted, I know the owner just wanted to do something else with his life, but when I was home last month I didn't see a new independent vegetable market in its place). And, even though I wasn't around for its last days so maybe I should shut up, I don't remember Truffles ever being empty. The last time I went there was last July and I had to just take my coffee to go because there was nowhere to sit.
When I told my oldest friend, Ruth, about Truffles closing, she was completely shocked. She and her sister had worked at Truffles and never had a moment to spare for would-be distractors (i.e., me). In fact before I moved to New Jersey, Ruth and I had our final, "I'll miss you, you'd better call all the time" session at Truffles. It was filled to the gills.
This is why I never actually considered the possibility that Truffles would close. In fact, I always pictured the World's Ugliest Starbucks across the street closing before Truffles, or maybe the newer place (is it Metro Joe's?) where Sai Woo used to be, that (when I peered in last summer) looks like it's inherited all of Sai Woo's unfortunate non-ambience.
Now, I don't know what happened to Truffles, but I do know what happened to Brady's and My Generation. Despite doing a good business, the people that owned the building wanted a higher rent. Same thing happened with the Stone Oven, didn't it? The owners of that building wanted to charge a higher price for that corner spot, so the Stone Oven got squeezed down the block. When I lived in Cleveland Heights in 2002 and 2003, there were many times I had to take my piece of pizza or my tiramisu-in-a-cup and go, because there was nowhere to sit.
My point is that you can shop local all you want, but local businesses will almost never be able to pay the same kind of rent that a multinational megacorporation can. And the multinational megacorporation will, and they won't care if they have to close up shop in a few months if nobody goes there because where those people really wanted to go was the place that was there before, and then the storefront which was once a thriving community gathering place will be empty.
Is my bottom line simply "blame it on greedy landowners"? No. There's certainly a plurality of issues at work here: you'll have to watch out for Death of Truffles, part two. A big part of me simply feels like shit that all this time I've been pretending that I'd fit in better in New York, or Portland, or Pittsburgh, or wherever, and meanwhile the one tiny, tiny scrap of land that I care about most is languishing in disrepair. I guess part of my bottom line then is "blame it on me." Blame it on all the young people who run away from Cleveland and then romanticize it from afar but still don't come back for some reason.
Maybe my Saturn Return will prompt a move back to Cleveland, too.
In a way, my lamenting the demise of Truffles coffee shop in Edgewater would seem a bizarre case of reverse NIMBYism, since I haven't lived in Edgewater since June of 2000. It's a big regret of mine that in the 3 post-Montana years that I was living in Northeast Ohio I didn't just move back to Edgewater: it was always clearly the place I wanted to be. The fact that I lived in Ravenna, and then Cleveland Heights, and then Shaker Heights, was really a measure of how willing I am to torture myself into not having what I really want.
The comment directly under mine in George's post set me to thinking: shopping local really isn't the magic panacea that its proponents - and that includes myself - wish that it was.
While I was in library school at Kent State, the venerable and historic Brady's coffee shop shut down amidst rumors that the building was going to be torn down and a gas station built on its ruins. (This never happened; a Starbucks moved in instead.) Brady's was never empty. My Generation, that old record store of choice for grungy hipsters, was never empty. Danny Boy's farm market was never empty (granted, I know the owner just wanted to do something else with his life, but when I was home last month I didn't see a new independent vegetable market in its place). And, even though I wasn't around for its last days so maybe I should shut up, I don't remember Truffles ever being empty. The last time I went there was last July and I had to just take my coffee to go because there was nowhere to sit.
When I told my oldest friend, Ruth, about Truffles closing, she was completely shocked. She and her sister had worked at Truffles and never had a moment to spare for would-be distractors (i.e., me). In fact before I moved to New Jersey, Ruth and I had our final, "I'll miss you, you'd better call all the time" session at Truffles. It was filled to the gills.
This is why I never actually considered the possibility that Truffles would close. In fact, I always pictured the World's Ugliest Starbucks across the street closing before Truffles, or maybe the newer place (is it Metro Joe's?) where Sai Woo used to be, that (when I peered in last summer) looks like it's inherited all of Sai Woo's unfortunate non-ambience.
Now, I don't know what happened to Truffles, but I do know what happened to Brady's and My Generation. Despite doing a good business, the people that owned the building wanted a higher rent. Same thing happened with the Stone Oven, didn't it? The owners of that building wanted to charge a higher price for that corner spot, so the Stone Oven got squeezed down the block. When I lived in Cleveland Heights in 2002 and 2003, there were many times I had to take my piece of pizza or my tiramisu-in-a-cup and go, because there was nowhere to sit.
My point is that you can shop local all you want, but local businesses will almost never be able to pay the same kind of rent that a multinational megacorporation can. And the multinational megacorporation will, and they won't care if they have to close up shop in a few months if nobody goes there because where those people really wanted to go was the place that was there before, and then the storefront which was once a thriving community gathering place will be empty.
Is my bottom line simply "blame it on greedy landowners"? No. There's certainly a plurality of issues at work here: you'll have to watch out for Death of Truffles, part two. A big part of me simply feels like shit that all this time I've been pretending that I'd fit in better in New York, or Portland, or Pittsburgh, or wherever, and meanwhile the one tiny, tiny scrap of land that I care about most is languishing in disrepair. I guess part of my bottom line then is "blame it on me." Blame it on all the young people who run away from Cleveland and then romanticize it from afar but still don't come back for some reason.
Maybe my Saturn Return will prompt a move back to Cleveland, too.
Labels: Cleveland
posted by Christine Borne at 1:44 PM
4 Comments:
I think you've identified the phenomenon as to why Northeast Ohio has not been "bouncing back" after so much economic downturning. It is sad to see it happen. Then again, me running away Monday to Pennsylvania for a temporary detached duty tour as an academic librarian certainly does not help against that trend, eh?
i own lucy's bakery. we have been surviving from 1957 on Buckeye rd. in Cleveland. we are holding on by the thinnest thread since 1994 when i bought this "famous" bakery. i survive because as Neo said to smith,"i choose to" i make half the money i could with some big corp. i work twice as hard and i have had nothing but difficulty establishing a viable sales volumn year long after years, we have been on food tv, in many major publications and recieve many wonderful compliments on our food and service. the fact is all the cards are stacked against us from costs os business, taxes, unfair competion et. al BUT the real fact is we still survive and anyone can if they are willing to work harder and longer, that energy eventually runs out and that is why these places fade out. consumers are the driving force and a line out the door will always keep me open i just can't seem to find my line of people out the door except at holiday times. the consuming public must support the small shops or they will close, end of story.
You lived in Cleveland Heights? I went to high school there. I was born and raised there. I loved it.
The only reason I don't live in Cleveland now if because of the jobs. There are none. :( But it will always be home for me.
Guess what? Truffles actually didn't close after all. Dennis was just there repairing their espresso machine!
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