Family Feud
Weekly contributor Jason McBride files the following dispatch from Capitol Hill:
We all like to see homegrown, local businesses succeed in these days of brightly lit, hand-railed corporate homogenization. Clearly, Capitol Hill's Victrola Coffee Roasters has emerged as a vigorous player in the Seattle coffee world. Set to open December 28, Victrola's second location sits near the Six Arms on Pike street. The former auto-repair shop will housetheir growing wholesale roasting business, along with a cupping room for sampling and "coffee education." A 30-seat cafe will enjoy natural lighting from massive panes running up the 16-foot walls, plus a view into the adjoining roasting area.
The new store is a testament to the upscale tastes of husband-and-wife proprietors Chris Sharp and Jen Strongin, who opened their vintage-themed shop on 15th Avenue back in July, 2000. Like true coffee aficionados, Sharp and Strongin go to great lengths in pursuit of the perfect cup, from purchasing raw beans at world-class auctions to roasting under a skylight, so as to gauge the hue of the roast with optimum fussiness.
The opening of the new space is a vindication for those who fear that corporate caffeine purveyors are using their vast reserves of investor capital to tamp down local businesses. But it's still capitalism, which means Victrola (or V2, as Strongin calls it) is also in competition with other coffeehouses, most notably Bauhaus, just one block away on Pine. Before opening Victrola, Strongin worked as a barista for Bauhaus owners Michael Klebeck and Joel Radin at their University Bookstore outpost. When Strongin and Sharp decided to open their own operation, Strongin's former bosses gave them guidance and contacts to help get Victrola off the ground. And now they're going to be in direct competition with each other.
"I guess time will tell - will it dip into our tip jar?" said one Bauhaus barista who asked not to be identified. "And that's where everybody's really concerned."
But maybe not the proprietors. Radin declined to comment. In fact, the barista said Radin is acting like he isn't concerned. Messages to Radin's partners at Top Pot Doughnuts, one of whom co-owns Bauhaus, went unanswered. Strongin says the Pike location was the only one they could find to suit their needs: an old building; one-story; the right square-footage; and not too far from the original café, which will rely on deliveries of freshly roasted beans each day. She's not happy about encroaching on Bauhaus' territory. But she doesn't think V2 will hurt their old benefactors.
"Bauhaus has been there for a long time. They do a great job. It's a really great atmosphere," Strongin says. "I think that they'll continue to have the clientele that they've always had."
And Top Pot Doughnuts, which now has three locations, isn't doing too bad itself, selling its renowned hole-in-ones to Starbucks. Strongin also points to the fact that two cafes have opened up within a two-block radius from Bauhaus during the past couple years. "Faire, they opened up and competed with Bauhaus," she says. "Uncle Elizabeth's is down the street from [V2], and it doesn't seem like it's raised anybody's dander that they opened up place near Bauhaus, so I don't feel like it should be any different for us."
If anything, this shows how experience has taught Victrola the realities of competition. About a year after Victrola's first store opened, Café Ladro leased a space on the same block, and "we were really scared about that," Strongin said.
So scared that they spoke of their fears extensively in a 2002 Stranger story, speculating that Ladro, which had five stores at the time, was going to put them under. "In retrospect, I really wish that [story] had never been written," Strongin says.
Ladro proprietor Jack Kelly, who calls the inter-cafe feud "hilarious," sees Victrola's idea to expand the same way he saw his - a simple business decision. "In this coffee market," says Kelly, "you can't go anywhere without stepping on anyone's toes."
9 comment(s)
Brian Miller says:
Seattle Weekly staff writer Brian Miller adds:
Sure, ?e all like to see homegrown, local businesses succeed in these days of brightly lit, hand-railed corporate homogenization,?but only so long as those homegrown local businesses actually deliver, you know, coffee to their customers. Is the Pike-Pine corridor dangerously overcrowded with rival coffee outlets and espresso stands? Judging by a recent late-morning visit to Caf?ita on East Pike Street, a little more competition would be a good thing. The relaxed, underlit joint was half-full of people blogging on their laptops. Servers chatted amiably with customers and among themselves. One even managed to take my order, after which I tossed a couple quarters in the tip jar and waited for my Americano to go. And waited. And waited. And watched as other orders came up, roughly one every five minutes, when the lone barista wasn? reading her paper, chatting amiably, and so forth. I could hardly have been more conspicuous, clutching my to-go lid in expectation of slamming it on my cup and darting out the door. After an eternity, I was the only guy left standing at the pick-up counter. But still, no coffee. I could?e complained, but why spoil the mellow vibe? No one could be bothered to ask me about my order, so I left, needing to rush off to a local appointment.
Brightly lit, hand-railed corporate homogenization may not taste as good, but if it delivers a reliable product in a prompt fashion, Victrola, Bauhaus, Ladro, and even Vita should have cause to worry about their future on the increasingly high-rent, high-density Capitol Hill. Sometimes customers like to linger over premium brew, but they?l frequent the place that understands how time carries a premium, too.
Posted On: Friday, Dec. 15 2006 @ 1:28PM
cite says:
I haven\'t had that experience at Vita, but I have at the Victrola -- I think they make excellent coffee, though. I just wouldn\'t go there if I was in a rush. In any case, it\'s great that they are opening that new location -- their coffee is better than Bauhaus, which really needs some true competition down there!
Posted On: Thursday, Dec. 21 2006 @ 10:22AM
World Health says:
The person has essential Reserves of health but how to keep this reserve longer? WBR LeoP
Posted On: Thursday, Feb. 1 2007 @ 3:34AM
Antonio says:
Very nice site! Good work.
Posted On: Wednesday, Feb. 28 2007 @ 9:32PM
italia says:
mmm.. nice design, I must say..
Posted On: Monday, Mar. 12 2007 @ 2:16AM
liberi says:
Du musst ein Fachmann sein - wirklich guter Aufstellungsort, den du hast!
Posted On: Wednesday, Mar. 14 2007 @ 5:21PM
libera says:
i\'am really impressed!!
Posted On: Friday, Mar. 16 2007 @ 3:34PM
sardinia says:
luogo grande:) nessun osservazioni!
Posted On: Sunday, Mar. 18 2007 @ 6:59AM
formula 1 says:
Chi ha fatto questo? E un buon posto per trovare le informazioni importanti!:)
Posted On: Monday, Mar. 19 2007 @ 9:56PM