They Will Come

Atkins North Grand Opening 9/12

When you have an exceedingly tight housing market and a pitifully small commercial tax base (under 10%) the old saying,  "If you build it ..." easily applies.

 Presidential Apartments, North Amherst on schedule for September 1st move in

But when you're a "college town" the window of opportunity -- even is you are not directly targeting college aged youth -- is open wide until early August.  After that everyone is settled in for the year.

 Amherst Office Park mixed use addition on schedule for September 1st opening

Kendrick Place seemingly on schedule for September 1st opening

Amherst College Greenway Dorm project opening September, 2016

Olympia Place private dorms opening September, 2016

Pax Mexicana

Mission Cantina Friday 5:45 PM

The pitched battle that erupted -- mainly over parking -- between town officials and Mission Cantina came to an honorable end at last week's Zoning Board of Appeals meeting, with a compromise both entities can live with.

The ever popular restaurant can continue operating a food truck (which serves the downtown) out of their current location with extra parking allowed for employees in the back as long as they stay only on paved areas.

The restaurant is not required to carve out any new additional customer parking spaces and in fact will lose a few by installing barriers to protect green space on the south end of the parking lot.

In addition signs will be erected telling hungry customers to stay off the grass.  Or maybe they can hire a grumpy old man at peak times to yell, "get off my lawn!"

And they will be allowed to construct an enclosure/vestibule around the front door.

Town officials were caught in a bit of bind:  They recently allowed two new large five-story mixed used buildings (mostly residential) in the downtown with no parking required but in this case originally tried to force a restaurant to add parking when they already provide more than twice what the zoning bylaw requires.

Click to enlarge/read

Victim Of Success?

Mission Cantina, 485 West Street, South Amherst

A bit of a firefight erupted at the Zoning Board of Appeals hearing last night over a Special Permit for the wildly successful Mexican restaurant in South Amherst, Mission Cantina.  Mainly over parking.

Attorney Kristi Bodin in a memo called the proposed actions of the board "arbitrary & capricious" and capped of her verbal presentation last night by branding it "really, really disturbing."

The restaurant, she pointed out, has a seating capacity of 49 and the zoning bylaw calls for one parking spot per 4 seats so they are only required to have 12, but in fact have 26.

 Click to enlarge/read

So to require them to provide (3) additional new parking spaces when all they wanted was permission to build an 8 foot fence to shield their immediate residential neighbor and add a vestibule in the front of the building (for energy savings in the winter) was a tad maddening. 

ZBA member Tom Ehrgood, who bristled at the word "capricious," pointed out that they were also requesting a doubling of employee parking in back, and permission to park the sizable Taco Truck. 

Taco truck and employee parking in the rear

The food truck operation is what tripped Building Commissioner Rob Morra's attention.  The original Special Permit that allowed the restaurant to open has nothing in the management plan to address the operation of the food truck on site, which loads up at the restaurant in the early evening and then returns in the early morning hours.

And Mr. Morra also thought the addition of the vestibule where patrons could stand while waiting for a table increases the capacity of the building (even though seating remains at 49) thus creating a "change in use" that requires its own Special Permit.

The ZBA seemed willing to compromise and liked the idea of both the vestibule and fence but since most of them have patronized the restaurant they know first hand there's a problem at peak time with parking.

Building Commissioner Morra could not be at the meeting last night to explain his findings, so the hearing was continued until June 4.  And by the end of last night's hearing, a Mexican standoff had been avoided as they had come to mutually agreeable terms:

1) Mission Cantina would submit a revised site plan removing the "new" parking spaces and showing eight (8) employee spaces and one (1) taco truck space behind the restaurant, 2) Mission would submit a plan to delineate the edge of the parking area on the south side of the building to prevent parking on the grass or dirt next to the lot; as well as a plan to inform patrons that parking on unpaved areas was not allowed; 3) Mission would provide a change to the management plan for the taco truck revising the hours to 3 am at the latest for clean up, and 4) Mission would provide a change to the fencing material from stockade fencing to some type of solid panel.

Red box indicates where 3 "new" parking spaces would have been located.  

 Business neighbor to north not interested in leasing out parking spaces

Last Man Standing ... Falls

Captain Video, North Amherst.  Last of a kind

Sad:

click to enlarge/read

Business/Government Superstar?

When you're alone & life is making you lonely you can always go ...

With Amherst being blessed by the presence of both a Chamber of Commerce and downtown Business Improvement District, the idea of creating a $70,000 taxpayer funded Director of Economic Development may get bankrupted on the floor of Town Meeting.

Especially since that ancient legislative body has never been known as business friendly.

$70K is a lot of money, but considering what this person is supposed to accomplish over the hurdles they face dealing with NIMBYs, BANANAs, and  government bureaucracy (Oh my!) probably not nearly enough.

After all, English literature professors make far less than Entrepreneurship professors and PR flacks make far more than front-line reporters.

A couple decades ago when then Town Manager Barry Del Castilho commissioned an expensive consultant he publicly admitted it was because, "We don't understand the language of business."

Considering the current pitiful 10% of our tax base that comes from commercial property, town government has still not learned the language.

So maybe an interpreter is in order.  Especially someone who can demonstrate how to walk the walk, after teaching the talk. 

   Amherst Business Czar Want Ad

Better Off Dead?

Rout 9 Diner now defunct

The Gazette seems to think the ("self inflicted") death of this diner can serve as a role model for the restaurant trade on how not to do business.  Fair enough I suppose. 

But I still have not heard a single source say the boorish behavior some employees were accused of back in October continued unabated for the last five months up until Monday when the business suddenly closed their doors.  Forever.

 Today's editorial

 Since the "self inflicted" wounds proved fatal, do we declare it a suicide?

So did the Attorney General's office really need to come in guns blazing? 

Especially since their involvement seems to be simply handing off the matter to the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.  

Considering the pace MCAD ambles along at most of the "young women" who worked at the establishment and were subject to bad behavior would see a settlement right around the time they are eligible for AARP.

Now, everybody gets nothing.

And Another One Gone

Hadley Rt 9 Diner now closed

I guess sometimes you have to destroy the village in order to save it ...

Affordable Housing Incentives

Boltwood Place (12 units) valued at $1.7 million could have saved $34,000 tax bill 1st year

Town officials are busy crafting a Special Act Home Rule Petition article that must pass Amherst Town Meeting before it goes to the state legislature for their approval to allow the Select Board to give property tax breaks to developers -- especially in areas where such development is cost prohibitive.

The tax incentive -- which could hypothetically zero out property tax for the first year or two and then phase in over the next eight years -- is seen as complimentary tool to work alongside the Planning Board's new Inclusionary Zoning article, which also requires Town Meeting approval ... two-thirds no less.

Because of irregular lot sizes and high cost of land the downtown and other village centers are especially problematic for developers to create far less profitable affordable units in their projects. 

According to Planning Board Chair David Webber:

In exchange for the 10% requirement and to make the resulting developments more economically viable the Inclusionary Zoning article gives certain “cost offsets.” These include increased height, floors, and lot coverage among other things.  

The Planning Board supports this article even without tax incentives because we believe it will be a substantial improvement over the current bylaw which has not resulted in any constructed affordable housing units. 

It is the downtown (BG) and adjoining areas that are already built out to the lot lines where the proposed non-zoning article will likely be needed.  That consists of a home-rule petition to allow discretionary tax incentives for affordable units (i.e. not tax them for up to 10 years) where the IZ incentives are not enough.  

Together these provisions should result in new, deeded affordable units without stifling new residential development.

The Planning Board has been diligently planning their Inclusionary Zoning article for the past year, and town officials have used tax incentives in the past with Atkins Farms Country Market in South Amherst and the Cushman Village Store in North Amherst to stimulate development.

Amherst has one of the highest housing costs in Western Massachusetts because of the presence of UMass Amherst, which also causes our "college town" to have the lowest medium age in the state.

The average working middle class family is priced out of the market because they can't compete with the per bed rental model absentee landlords rely on to market property to "college age youth." 

And NIMBYs are nothing if not organized -- fighting housing developments an all fronts like Muhammad Ali in his prime.

The simple formula is as old as capitalism itself:  supply must at least come close to satisfying demand.

Planning Director Jonathan Tucker explains

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

The Hangar (right), Amherst Brewing Company (left)

UPDATE: Monday morning

So I had a very nice conversation with The Hangar Pub and Grill owner Harold Tramazzo and he said the "hybrid" model -- where he does food service and Amherst Brewing Company maintains liquor service -- was the original plan he approached ABC owner John Korpita with about 6 months ago.

But now it's morphed into a outright sale of Amherst Brewing Company (not yet completed) because Mr. Tramazzo "doesn't want the name Amherst Brewing Company to go away."  At the moment he has "management and financial responsibility."

He also wants it known that if the numbers work there's no reason he can't run two businesses almost directly across the street from each other, as well as the Wings Over Amherst just down the road near Big Y.

He also denies The Hangar Pub and Grill is a college bar (which I don't think I called it) and pointed out that he interacted with lots of older patrons over the weekend.  

Mr. Tramazzo does own buildings that house his food service business in Westfield and Greenfield but has no plans for buying Newmarket Center, which has a  town valuation of $3,145, 300.

The "kids menu" has not disappeared, he just weeded out the offerings that were not working and simply serves smaller portions of regular items still on the menu. 

Lots of details still need to be worked out (including paperwork with the town), so at the moment you can consider the operation in soft opening/launch mode. 

#####

Original Report: 
The super popular chicken wings at The Hangar Pub and Grill will get even more room for distribution -- not to mention parking -- as the formerly competing business has taken over food service at the expansive Amherst Brewing Company just across the street on University Drive.

Although one of my Facebook buddies was not overly happy that they immediately cut the kids menu at ABC, making it a tad less family friendly.

The demographic for The Hangar is younger than ABC, to quote that often heard line in a college town:  "College aged youth."  While the Amherst Brewing Company seemed to attract an older crowd, as well as families.

So it will be interesting to see how this clash of cultures works out.

 Charles Lane, a neighborhood immediately behind ABC

Neighbors who live on Charles Lane immediately behind Newmarket Center probably will not be pleased, since this will undoubtedly increase the potentially nosier demographic to their side of the street.

About 15 years ago the Zoning Board of Appeals denied a Special Permit to H2O, a sports bar that wished to open in the space occupied by ABC, because of the potential for noise and nuisance.

A Gold's Gym opened a couple years later, changed their name to The Leading Edge to save franchise fees and then went belly up for good.

Former members tried to form a co-op and revive the fitness operation at that site, but like most things born of Internet petitions, never managed to break a sweat.

If You Can't Beat 'Em ...

Mission Cantina 485 West Street, South Amherst

One of the gripes you hear about food carts is that they have an "unfair" advantage over traditional bricks-and-mortar restaurants since they pretty much pay the town only a $100 annual fee to operate.

Restaurants of course either  pay a hefty downtown commercial rent to their landlord, or if they own the building, pay the whopping Amherst property tax that is twice that of neighboring Hadley.  And recently became even more oppressive with the doubling of the Community Preservation Act tax.

But because the lunch cart system, unlike liquor licenses, is not overly regulated it really is an equal opportunity, two-way street.

For instance, Mission Cantina, one of the more wildly successful restaurants located in the heart of South Amherst's microscopic business district will go before the venerable Amherst Select Board Monday night for a lunch cart license to bring their Mexican fare downtown this coming nice weather season.

Currently the town has two active lunch carts, Sun Kim Bop and New York Halal Food but this will be a first for an established restaurant entering the market.

Viva la competition!

Coming soon to a street near you

When Products Compete

Over the strong objection of Shumway Street neighbors and Marvin Spence, who has owned and operated Spirit Haus, a College Street institution in town for 40+ years, the Amherst Select Board unanimously approved the relocation of an all alcohol off premisis liquor license for Amherst Wines & Spirits from 233 N. Pleasant Street to 308 College Street.

308 College Street

Amherst Wines & Spirits has been in business for over twenty years in the heart of downtown Amherst.  But due to the impending sale of the Carriage Shops building, they needed to find a new home.



The town has 8 All alcohol licenses available and all of them are taken.  So it's not like this is a new competitor for the nearby Spirit Haus or an additional store selling mega packs of cheap beer.

 

Spirit Haus, 338 College Street

Inevitable End?

Food For Thought Books

Like losing a child, it's almost impossible to describe to those who have not endured it the heartbreak that coincides with locking the door to your long-time business one last time.

In America -- built on the unforgiving survival of the fittest model -- it happens all the time. 

A majority of small business start ups fail to celebrate their first anniversary, and the vast majority do not make it to double digits.

Food For Thought Books' run of 38 years was stellar.

The Internet has, after all, changed everything -- giving consumers the instant ability to find exactly what they want at the cheapest price possible.  Even worse for book and record stores or DVD rental shops (or print newspapers): the very nature of the product has been transformed from physical to digital.

Jeffery Amherst Books closed in town center half dozen years ago after 70 years in business

The upside is when consumers pay less for products they keep more money in their pockets, which they can spend on other products at another -- hopefully local -- business.

The downside is now we have another vacant commercial spot in the heart of Amherst, a town with far too few businesses as it is. 

Town Meeting Strikes Again

Amherst Town Meeting counted standing vote

Two episodes from Monday night's Town Meeting 3rd session, one amusing one not so much.

During a discussion of borrowing $322,000 for mega lawnmowers used to groom the massive amount of open space property the town owns, member Shavahn Best moved to reduce the amount by over one-third and have the DPW shop on the Internet for battery operated mowers.



When DPW Chief Guilford Mooring threw up a photo of the mower in question there was little question as to whether an electric mower could do the job.  Actually no question at all.

Town Meeting overhead of DPW mower request

Town Meeting almost unanimously voted to spend $151,000 for 20 acres of open space property (2/3 state money) in East Amherst, the same property they voted down 72 "Yes"-90 "No" back in the Fall when it required a two-thirds vote to pass.

Town officials, not taking any chances, removed the term "eminent domain" from the article and since the town was using CPA money ($41,785) it then only required a majority vote. Not that it mattered since the "Yes" votes were thunderous.  

The very next article Town Meeting once again near unanimously voted (death to the lone malcontent) to place on the November ballot a doubling of the CPA tax from 1.5% to 3%. 

Amherst already has the highest property tax rate in the area ($20.97/$1,000 compared to Hadley $10.64/$1,000).

The huge financial burden for homeowners in Amherst is they make up 90% of the tax rolls and commercial property only 10%.  Even more debilitating, half the property in Amherst is owned by tax-exempts, meaning the other half -- home and business owners -- have to carry twice the weight.

That tax exempt disconnect only worsened with the 20 acres in East Amherst acquired by the town on Monday night.

And if you are a commercial property owner, the first $100,000 in valuation is NOT exempt from CPA (costing you an additional $62.37).   If you own property in the downtown, there's the Business Improvement District extra surcharge to pay as well.

When Town Meeting voted an increase in the water/sewer rates the Town Manager defended it as "only" a couple dollars per month.  Now the CPA tax increase will add "only" $69 per year to the average home ($113 for a commercial property).

Adding to an annual tax burden that's already too big a burden.  More so if you own commercial property.  Even more so if it's located in the downtown BID area.

No wonder Amherst is considered an unforgiving place to do business. 

Green Developments

Trolley Barn, Cowls Road, North Amherst

Resembling book ends, two three-story developments are almost in the same stage of completion. Amherst Office Park in South Amherst sports a new 30,000 square foot building and the 12,000 square foot Trolley Barn in North Amherst (on Cowls Road) both show off their vibrant green Zip system insulation on this perfect Spring day.

Amherst Office Park, West Street, South Amherst

Farmers Market Marks The Big 43

Amherst Farmers Market Spring Street parking lot

The weekly Amherst Farmers Market opened for business Saturday, a sure sign spring has arrived.

As for Amherst institutions the weekly Sunday afternoon anti-war vigil in town center dates back a bit further, to 1966, but since they took a hiatus from 1973-1979 the Amherst Farmers Market 43 continuous years in operation sets them apart.

The Farmers Market seemed less crowded this afternoon than usual, but it may take a while for consumers to get used to them being back in operation after a l-o-n-g winter.

Also, some aficionados for locally grown food may have adopted All Things Local as their go to place since it opened last November.  And since it's a bricks and mortar operation, bad weather is never a concern.

Get By With A Little Help From My Friends

Glazed Doughnut Shop in a Dead Man Walking building

One of the really hard things about renting commercial space for your mom and pop business -- which includes the vast majority of Amherst small business owners -- is you have no incentive to put tons of money into the physical structure, since you will only be enhancing the value for your landlord.

Which is why you sign a somewhat long lease at start up, because there are of course finishing costs particular to your business that you can't expect the landlord to cover, but consist of items you can't very well take with you when you leave somewhere down the distant road.   Hopefully, for a building you can call your own.

Like hot water heaters for instance.  When the Glazed Doughnut Shop first moved into the space formerly occupied by Family Wireless, the hot water heater was the size of a breadbox; and being a bakery you need a fair amount of hot water.  So out went $3,000 for a new larger unit with all the copper piping now required to meet commercial building codes.

In all owners Keren and Nick Rhodes, high school sweethearts who now probably see more of their business than they do of each other, estimate they spent $15,000 two years ago on finishing costs that they can't take with them.

Why leave a lovely location with three years left on a lease (and an option to renew for five more years)?

Well, town insiders pretty much now agree that the entire Carriage Shops complex is toast -- actively sought for a classy mixed use commercial/residential complex that will act as a major anchor for that side of the downtown.

And will be great for business in Amherst.  But not so great if you are a current tenant of the Carriage Shops.  Hence the problem.  On the one hand the Rhodes support the revitalization of the commercial complex but can't take the risk of losing the roof over their heads without another place to go.

Meanwhile, a doughnut throw away, a commercial spot opened up, larger and in an even better a location (although slightly haunted by frequent turnover).  A perfect port in a gathering storm.

Problem now is they need $15,000 to prepare the new space.  A big hit for a small business barely out of their rookie year. 

So they are turning to you.  "Mm going to try with a little help from my friends."  Which of course means a crowd funding website like Indiegogo.

Come on Amherst, we talk the talk about supporting local business.  Well, here's your poster family.

Glazed Doughnut Shop Indiegogo campaign    

All Things Alcohol

All Things Local Cooperative Market, downtown Amherst

With a room full of cops concerned about the Blarney Blowout alcohol fueled riot looking on, the Amherst Select Board -- by unanimous vote -- issued a wine and malt off premises license to the new downtown food consignment store, All Things Local.

The cooperative market opened four months ago and already has expanded, taking 50% of the space given up by Food For Thought Books who recently raised $40,000 in a Indiegogo campaign to remodel their downsized operation and guarantee life beyond their 38th year.

Select Board Chair Stephanie O'Keeffe pointed out her board has turned down the last two requests for this category of license,  Cumberland Farms on Rt 9 and the Hess Station on Rt 116, both over concerns of high-volume sales competing with long-time nearby liquor stores.   

Select Board member Jim Wald acknowledged the irony of the board handling four liquor license issues before getting to the public hearing on Blarney Blowout, but he added that it shows how carefully the town government does oversee the licensing of liquor establishments in town.

Decisions, Decisions

Could Amherst voters decide fate of $15/hour Minimum Wage hike?

UPDATE (Friday morning):

The Town Clerk just confirmed that even if the Select Board set the referendum election for September 9, the date of the State Primary, it would only result in "minimal savings."  The cost for the Special Town Election would still be around $10,000 vs a normal stand alone election cost of $12,000.  

Separate ballots would still have to be printed and the number of check in and check out workers at every precinct would need to double.

#####

After reading this morning's article Matthew Cunningham-Cook, the optimistic architect of the $15/hr minimum wage hike for all Amherst laborers, wished to add an interesting point:

If Town Meeting should reject his article at the March 19 Special Town Meeting he will "referendum" that decision by collecting 880 signatures within five business days and bring it directly to the voters of Amherst in a Special Election that will cost taxpayers $12,000.

Since he's already collected 200 signatures to force the $15/hour minimum wage warrant article on a Special Town Meeting, his threat is not to be ignored.

And when I mentioned how difficult it can be he responded, "That's true.  We're a big group and five business days afterwards would be the 26th.  Collecting signatures on election day(3/25)  is pretty easy."

The Town Clerk confirms his deadline analysis and agrees she can't stop folks from collecting signatures near a voting precinct unless they are interfering with voters.

The rule stating no electioneering within 100 feet of a voting precinct on election day would not apply since this issue has nothing to do with what's on the election ballot.

Since 1998 only twice has a Town Meeting action been referendumed by collecting the signatures of 5% of active voters:  The Parking Garage in town center and the Soccer Fields on Potwine Lane.

Both capital items had Town Meeting approval, and the referendum was an attempt to overturn that approval.

Both referendums failed.  In fact, in order to pass at least 18% of registered voters have to vote "yes," otherwise it automatically fails.  And Amherst only turns out over 18% at a local election if there's a (much needed) change in government question on the ballot or a Proposition 2.5 Override Question. 

The really interesting thing happens if Town Meeting fails to muster a quorum on March 19.  Obviously the lone article is then pocket vetoed, but there would be nothing to referendum.

And unlike the scene in "House of Cards," you can't send out police to drag Town Meeting members to the Amherst Regional Middle School to attain a quorum.

The Town Clerk has asked the Town Manager to ask the Town Attorney for guidance, since there's nothing in state law at the moment to address this quirk.  In other words, how long does the Moderator wait before he announces there's no quorum, and hence no meeting?

Perhaps the safest route would be for Town Meeting to approve the article (only requires a simple majority), thereby avoiding a $12,000 Special Town Election, thus sending it on to the State Legislature where it will be Dead On Arrival. 

Fight The Power

UMass is -- by far -- the town's largest employer

I received the following press release last night from UMass Grad Student Matthew Cunningham-Cook regarding the Only In Amherst minimum wage hike to $15/hour warrant article Town Meeting will vote on March 19 (if they get a quorum).

According to Mr. Cunningham-Cook the bylaw, unlike most town ordinances, is a "home rule petition" that further requires State Legislature approval so it would then apply to the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, the #1 employer in town.

Mr Cunningham-Cook is a contestant for Town Meeting but since the local town election is a week after the Special Town Meeting, he will not be able to support it on the floor of Town Meeting. 

It will be interesting to see if he can find a single business owner in town who would agree that student workers with "more money in their pockets" would translate into more business.  As it would take a tremendous boost in business to offset the steep increase in overhead brought on by the new increase in the cost of labor.

For most small businesses, the #1 overhead cost is labor.

#####

AMHERST, MA-- The Student Labor Action Project at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst is launching a multifaceted campaign to end poverty through higher wages.

Amherst's poverty rate is 20.2%: overwhelmingly composed of students, as only 7.2% of families in Amherst are below the poverty line. At the same time, UMass is a huge employer, with nearly all of the university's 21,000 undergraduate students working on campus in one capacity or another.

Almost all work for less than $10/hour-- nowhere near enough to afford the cost of living in Amherst, where rents for a room frequently exceed $800/month.

Nationwide, fast food workers have gone on strike for a minimum wage of $15/hour. Sea-Tac, Washington just passed a ballot initiative mandating a minimum wage of $15/hour, and activists in Seattle are organizing to put an initiative on the 2014 ballot there as well.

SLAP is planning to replicate these successes here in Amherst, where the poverty rate has reached crisis levels, all while bloated administrative salaries extract funds out of the pockets of student workers and contribute significantly to the gentrification of the Pioneer Valley. (Men's basketball coach Derek Kellogg tops the list at $719,664. All told, 224 UMass employees make more than $200,000 per year.)

Our campaign has begun by collecting the requisite signatures to call a Special Town Meeting for a home rule petition to the legislature which would grant the Town of Amherst the power to implement a minimum wage of $15 per hour.

We are also launching an aggressive pressure campaign to make UMass may pay the $15 an hour minimum wage in the event that that the home rule petition fails to pass the legislature.

We are calling for inclusive language including the entire Town of Amherst because 1) small businesses in the Town will gain a massive source of new revenue were UMass' undergraduate student workers to have 50% more money in their pocket, and 2) we believe all employers should be held to the same standard of providing a living wage, which only $15/hour can achieve.

Given that UMass has 21,000 undergraduates with Amherst's population at 37,000, the overwhelming majority of low-wage employees are employed by UMass.

The Special Town Meeting has been called by the Select Board for March 19 at 7 PM for the Middle School Auditorium. We encourage all supporters to attend.

Amherst is a microcosm of the global trend of increasing wealth inequality, which the United Nations Development Program recently said "can undermine the very foundations of development and social and domestic peace."

UMass SLAP is a joint project of Jobs with Justice and the United States Student Association. Most of us work low-wage jobs on the UMass campus. This campaign is also supported by the Amherst Area Workers Rights Committee.

Mexican Stand Off

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

Perhaps the local mom and pop most affected would have been Mi Tierra, except the devastating fire back in October instantly put them out of the restaurant business.  But they will rebuild.

Because mom and pops are nothing if not resilient.