Hello everyone,
Here's what seems to be my annual plea to make that special trip to
our very special local businesses. Winter is a tough time for many of
them. As a frequent patron of our local coffee & bike shops in
particular, I'm getting more than a little worried....
Cafe Zoma, for example, is a favorite community summertime
destination--being right on the bike path--and business fairly booms
there during the spring, summer & fall months. But, in talking with
Ann (hi Ann!), the owner, business really slackens in the winter
months.* This extreme winter has been particularly harsh for business
conditions. Then, of course, there is the overall business
environment....
I'm not exaggerating the danger to the survival of our small local
shops. Some friends who have owned a very, very successful coffee
shop for more than 11 years up in Winona MN, just had to call it
quits (http://www.blueheroncoffeehouse.com/). When the weather hit,
no one showed up to the shop. (As you probably know, there is very
little cushion when operating a small biz.) Now there is a big gaping
hole in the fabric of their downtown. That shop was the cornerstone
of what was hoped would be the resurgence of their downtown. It was
an architecturally beautiful coffee shop in a rehabbed/restored
building, too. The closure really hit hard, because it was pretty
much the social center of that little city.
Cafe Zoma functions pretty much as the Atwood neighborhood's informal
community center (ok, during the day; at night it becomes the Harmony
Bar). It is what urban planners call (and rightists like the NYT's
David Brooks deride as) the classic "third place." It isn't the
formality of work, or the privacy of the home--it is a place for
chance meetings, a neutral place for hashing out issues, or, just
seeing & being seen, etc. We would have a huge gaping hole in the
hood if Zoma were to go away.
And let's face it. The novice bicyclists would die of dehydration en
masse every July if Zoma weren't there on the Lake Monona Loop! We'd
see a dramatic decrease in new cyclists as a result. A bad thing,
n'est-ce pas?!
So please, treat yourself to a hot chocolate after digging out from
the snow. Grab a great pastry & a coffee before heading out to work.
Buy a smoothie to re-charge those eloctrolytes after that X-C ski
across the lake.
(OOOooooh, have you seen those parabolic snow-dunes out there? Wind
sculpting! Ice Scouring & deposition! Deposition & scouring!
Spectacular ice morphology! Spectacular ice dynamics! But my ADHD
digresses....).
And maybe combine a trip to the coffee shop with a trip to Revolution
Cycles next door. This is a particularly grueling time of
year--financially--for bike shops. But *you* can work it to your
advantage. Now is the time to take your bike in for an overhaul and
be assured of a high-quality result. I'm not saying that you won't
get a good work done at Revolution in the summer. I'm just saying
that you can expect to have your bike seriously babied, coddled,
detailed and pampered in a big way this time of year. You can also
expect to get it back in a timely manner. After all, it really isn't
fair to expect a quick turnaround on that first bright & sunny 60
degree day when the whole world wants to set out on their neglected
bike. Because guess what? The whole world will be in Revolution
trying to get their neglected bike fixed. (I.e., Take a number!)
This advice was originally directed to my neighborhood's discussion
list. But it applies to small coffee & bike & other shops in whatever
hood you are in. So help yourself, help the shops, help keep our
local businesses thriving over the winter. Visit them soon!
-Mike
*Don't be deceived by the numerous websurfers camped out at the
coffee shop. Too many of them buy one small coffee and then sit there
for hours.
P.s. Sorry if I violate any rules on advertising for commercial
outfits, but, hey, let's face it, though they may not sport the IRS's
501(c)(3) imprimatur, most of our small local enterprises are run for
passion. Profit, if it ever happens, is way on down the list for
these enterprises.
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