One of the many benefits of living in a "college town" is the youthful demographic is a prime target for national franchises to set up shop. Great for consumers of all ages, but not so great for local mom and pops trying to survive in the same zip code.
Take nearby Hadley for instance, a town smart enough to allow commercial development all along busy Rt. 9 even before the University of Massachusetts became such an overpowering presence.
A decade ago Chili's set up shop almost on the Amherst/Hadley border and it did not take long for Applebee's to come a calling directly across the busy street. Just as a generation ago McDonald's and Burger King opened for business even before the busy Hampshire Mall was constructed.
Now withing a burger throw of both we have a Chipotle that opened recently and soon enough a "Moe's". Our little corner of the Happy Valley is becoming all Mexican all of the time.
Which may not be a welcome development for local Amherst restaurants serving southwest cuisine: Bueno Y Sano and La Veracruzana in the downtown and The Mission Cantina and El Comalito in South Amherst.
October 27, 2013
Because mom and pops are nothing if not resilient.
14 comments:
Always room for everyone and those that don't live up to the hype die. Many feared when Home Depot and Lowes came. Nothings changed. Mexican is cheap and easy and hence why it joins the list with pizza and Chinese as top fast food choices. The great thing about bars and fast food restaurants is the more that spout up, the better they all do. That's why McDonald, Wendys and Burger Kings all open near each other, same reason why bars cluster together.
Gee, a national chain restaurant to be located in front of Target, Dick's and Trader Joe's, This is clearly a crisis. C'Mon, get real.
Spoken like a CAN who doesn't run a small business.
You can either stand outside Dunkin Donuts with your protest sign, or you can open a place like Glazed Donut Shop, and compete by beating them on higher quality.
"Spoken like a CAN who doesn't run a small business."
Even worse than national chains is the town of Amherst that frowns on business all together. Oh I forgot the steering committee is hiring a consultant that will steer himself into a brink wall and then another consultant will have nasty things to say about how poorly the town of Amherst is managed.
At least Hadley welcomes all business growth and revenue for the town. In fact without Hadley UMASS wouldn't exist and Amherst would be some fields with a few homes and no development. On second thought, it already is.
When all you have to compare Glazed Donut Shop to is DD, anything tastes better. Overall Glazed Donut Shop aren't so fantastic. They are more like a variation on the same theme.
I just don't see that Moe's, located way out of the town center, in an area with not even a sidewalk, is going to pose a problem to Bueno y Sano, or La Veracruzana.
By majority vote, we frown on business altogether. It's clearly the way Amherst residents like it. We have a large enough sample size of elections since the middle of the last century to conclude this. Amherst likes the status quo it has, including the unfavorable division of commerce it has with Hadley. OR the residents of the Town would vote differently.
Such a status quo is enforced yearly by votes in Town Meeting. It's not government run amok. It's government channeling the wishes of its residents.
All the consultants we hire from here to eternity are not going to change this. You cannot reform it: it's a little like marriage to a man. You're not going to change him.
Sadly so few of the town votes on anything or cares that it truly is status quo by default. The panem et circenses of Amherst don't care. Hence why the outdated system of government works. The few that want power can control all they want and no one will challenge them. The residents seem to care little much of anything from their poorly run school system to the police and fire departments that are overworked to protect them. They simply pay bloated taxes and care little about anything except making sure to use the compose and save the planet.
No, Walter, you've got it wrong.
Yes, the police and fire department are stretched to the max and badly overworked. That situation is pretty much under the radar. But that's not different from a lot of other communities.
On the other hand, no, the schools are much better than you say they are. The kids come predominantly from families that tend to emphasize education and care about it, which may offset or mask any systemic problems in how the schools are run. These kids bring the richness of their home experiences to school with them, and make the schools better! And new families arrive that want to buy in (if they can).
The system of government that Amherst has ensures what Amherst wants rather passionately: nothing changes. Like other places in America, residents here are deeply fearful of any kind of change. So what else is new? The town meeting system is supremely conservative and provides a strong firewall against change, despite all the progressive language you hear there. The Town doesn't want a commercial strip like Hadley has, it doesn't, and there's little danger of it getting one in the future.
You think that there's more indifference here in Amherst's population than in other places, and you're wrong about that. But you don't live here, do you?
Perhaps the readership is not familiar with the Moe's chain... It's in many ways a knock off Chipotle, assembly line and all, albeit a few more/different menu options. In my opinion, quality a far cry from what you can expect at the "local" joints... If PVTA set up a new stop directly in front, that would be another issue.
Mission Cantina threatened by Moe's? You've got to be kidding. That's like Chez Albert being threatened by Taco Bell. The reality is that fast food restaurants tend to compete with others in the same sector. It's Chipotle that will face competition. As far as Mi Tierra goes, that was a sit down restaurant with a liquor license. They made a lot of their money off of margaritas, not exactly the Moe's menu.
As a fan of free enterprise, you should be happy that a business is going in the empty spot next to Hunt's Camera. If you don't like that it's a chain, start your own locally-owned restaurant serving a cuisine not available elsewhere in the Valley. I'll wait...
Never said I didn't like chains. Try paying attention. I'll wait ...
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