Local Cafe Writes Delightfully Passive-Aggressive Open Letter to Williamsburg’s First Starbucks
Pumpkin spice? Psh.
Williamsburg coffee shop The West would like you to know that they are not at all threatened by the upcoming opening of a Starbucks just one block away, thank you very much, and have expressed their totally-cool-with-it feels through a saucy press release, published this afternoon.
Writer Douglas Turner writes on The West’s website:
…Owner, Esther Bell, says, “We have bathrooms too… no seriously we’ve always been about supporting the community.”
There are bathrooms! Which is the only reason people go to Starbucks anyway! Plus, there’s also alcohol, which Starbucks still does not have (in New York, anyway):
When you look around at what small local businesses are offering the community, Starbucks falls short. At The West I can enjoy cold brew coffee on tap, and, if I feel like a beer later, they have 14 to choose from.
14! And then:
This may sound like a classic tale of David Vs. Goliath, but The West’s focus won’t be on competing with Starbucks. As someone who uses The West as a home-away-from-home office almost every day, it is hard to imagine that a new generation of locals would ever find themselves in a generic coffee franchise listening to Starbucks muzak compilations.
In all seriousness, we hope The West continues to thrive despite the processed autumn-scented onslaught of Pumpkin Spice Lattes this fall. After all, it’s named after the original Brooklyn bombshell Mae West. But more importantly, you can pee there, too.
Read the whole release here.
Follow Rebecca Jennings on Twitter @rebexxxxa.
