Downtown shop poll results
We forgot to post this when it appeared in April. Downtown Boulder Magazine posted the results of a poll (page 37 of the pdf) about the best downtown coffee shop (presumably from this list of 18 shops). (We posted during the poll’s run).
Here are the results (actual screenshot from the magazine pdf is below the fold, but we had the full results emailed to us), and I have to say I’m scratching my head on a couple of these:
1. The Cup (18%)
2. The Unseen Bean (15%)
3. Laughing Goat (10%)
4. Great Awakening (8%)
5. Tee and Cakes (7.5%)
6. Amante (7%)
7. Trident (6%)
I’m good with the top-3, but Great Awakening? Are you kidding? And Saxy’s or Sidney’s didn’t make the list? And while I like Tee and Cakes, Spruce Confections is roughly 346 times better. One of three explanations are possible: 1) all of 14 people responded; 2) Readers of Downtown Boulder mag are not representative of actual coffee shop denizens; 3) ballot-box stuffing. Either way, more grist for the mill that public polls like this are next to useless, which is exactly what one of our commenters noted on the post announcing the poll.
Vic’s: coming and going
We knew it wasn’t just us.
First, the facts: Vic’s is opening two new stores. The “coming soon” sign has been up on Table Mesa for quite a while and another author here even posted about it on April 1. The second shop is open in western Longmont (Nelson and Airport Rd), and I just happened to visit a shop next door a few days ago, so stopped in. It was bone-dry empty at 3pm, but business might pick up once people know about it. It has only been open a couple of weeks.
But, beyond the facts? Today the Daily Camera wrote about the two new shops and the interesting news isn’t in the story, but in the comments on the story. Here’s the first, and fits our observations to a T:
That is unfortunate. I cringe every time I pass a Vic’s.
When I was pregnant and ill, studying for exams at Vic’s on Broadway, it was all I could do to sit upright in the chair without feeling like vomiting. I sank back in my chair, sipped my coffee, tried to eat small bites of a muffin, studying – when a greying, balding, pudgy man began verbally assaulting me about my feet (shoes removed…socks only) being on one of the chairs. I was shocked by this and could not understand what kind of a person would yell at a pregnant lady for trying to study in a position that afforded her a bit more comfort and a bit less nausea. Well, after this rude man actually went so far to pull the chair out from under my feet, he told me he was the owner… THIS WAS VIC HIMSELF. I have never been treated so poorly, so aggressively in a public establishment.
I think all Vic’s patrons should be made aware of this.
All I could do at the time was gather my books and leave, and burst into tears once I got to my car. No one deserves to be treated like that. I hope no one else ever has to bear the brunt of such behavior.
Well, we only had that experience with Mike at the downtown Vic’s once or twice or 300 times. Here’s the second comment:
He is a total jerk – he went off on my wife and her friend one day for having their strollers in the way when they were sitting at a table with kids. Maybe he hates kids? We won’t go in there either.
And another:
Yes, this has been Mike’s personality (rude, arrogant) since his Trident days. He has a particular fetish for feet anywhere near a chair. It’s no surprise that, with few exceptions, and for many years on end, the employees consistently display a similar immature snottiness.
One incredible exception: the red-haired dude with the hat and the tattoos. One of the nicest guys ever. WHAT are you doing working for Mike and Rob? You must laugh your butt off everyday at your coworker’s and boss’s attitudes.
And we could go on and on…..
He yelled at my wife and her friend too and actually started to move the stroller with the baby in it, and none too gently. The other people that work there (Community Plaza Vic’s) always seemed to be very nice. We don’t go there anymore. There’s plenty of good coffee in this town, no need to go to Vic’s.
So there it is. Mike’s a prick, pisses off everybody, yet…. the Newlands groupies still love his swill and people vote with their dollars. Good luck to ya’.
Reminder: you need good people behind the bar
This is a gentle reminder to local coffee shop owners: unless you like losing business, do not hire teenagers to pull shots without adequate training. I’m not going to name the shop, but let’s say that they appeared with a fairly glowing review sometime within the last 10 or 15 posts on this blog. Over the weekend we got two different coffees from the same under-trained teenager and both were godawfully horrible. So horrible I didn’t take another sip after my first and went to another coffee shop to replace my awful coffee. I will absolutely go back to that shop, but I hope most owners don’t want to take the gamble that most customers will come back after bad coffee drinks.
Owners: train your people!! Pulling shots is an art. Yes, at times we’ve gone on and on about the different roasters in town, but we realize that personnel is probably more important than roast in the quality of the outcome. Don’t have rookies working alone behind your bar if you want to keep your customers coming back. They need to know about timing the shot, pulling thin, how to know in advance if it’s going to be a bad shot, etc. Every quality shop in the downtown core (Goat, Cup, Sidney’s, Amante) has baristas that know before the shot is done whether it’s going to be good or not, and will trash it immediately if it’s going to be bad. Hopefully that kind of attention to detail will spread.
