El Dorado Springs has a bit of an odd tradition. For decades the elderly gentlemen of the town (and the surrounding area) used to meet every morning at a ridiculously early hour to drink coffee, read the newspaper, and express opinions on all manner of topics at a place colloquially known as Clem's, or just "the coffee shop." The official name of the place was Casey's Honeybee Restaurant, but nobody called it that. The coffee was cheap and good, and the regulars and semi-regulars could count on reliable service and Clem Casey, the proprietor, keeping the flow of conversation going. Then Clem retired and sold his restaurant to a couple rumored to have moved to town from California. Within two months, the place had closed its doors, and has now sat vacant for more than two years.
The odd thing is that since Casey's sat next to the local McDonald's, and since McDonald's offers decent prices on a cup of coffee for senior citizens, the older gentlemen have unofficially shifted their early-morning custom to McDonald's. And now, when you hear one of these pillars of the community talk about going to "the coffee shop" in the mornings, they are actually talking about McDonald's. But McDonald's is only called "the coffee shop" in the early mornings. After about 9 am, they refer to it as McDonald's again like the rest of the world.
I have mixed feelings about this phenomenon. On the one hand, I am in favor of any tradition like this where people can gather and share a sense of community. On the other hand, something in me rebels against a major national chain serving as a host to this kind of thing. I even typically eschew Starbuck's or Caribou coffee in favor of local establishments. Clem's was never a coffee shop to fit the modern definition - their idea of innovative variety was to brew both regular and decaf - but I respected the culture and local flavor of the place. And there are other local establishments in town that could serve as "the coffee shop." I wish McD's weren't getting that revenue.
The McDonald's corporation has absolutely no idea what great fodder for advertising they have here. They're trying to introduce the coffee-shop vibe into their restaurants in several test markets, including ours. They're redecorating, including in several cases constructing separate rooms with couches and coffee tables to promote the atmosphere. If they realized what is going on with the elderly gentlemen in our town, I'm convinced some advertising wheeze at the corporate level would just turn backflips of yuppie glee.
4 comments:
I probably already at least partially have an idea of what your answer might be, but would you mind humoring me? What is your stance against "big business" or national chains such as McDonalds? Is it specific to the brand itself, or the product provided or large chains in general?
Some of my aversion to large national chains is a resistance to being a homogenized, assimilated unit. I think life is better with more variety rather than uniformity. Also, I think when price and quality is comparable, one should support local small businesses just because small businesses are good to have around.
The reason I support local coffee shops over Starbucks is simply that I think Starbucks is overpriced.
But honestly, it boils down to sentimentality. I like the idea of a traditional small-town diner owned and operated by a guy named Clem or Junior or Claude or Paco or Zeke; I think there should be things that aren't on the menu that the insiders always order anyway; I think there needs to be some severely outdated un-hip decor and clippings from the local paper on the walls.
Glad to see that it is your opinion and what you prefer. A lot of people agree with you, which is probably the only reason that some of these kinds of places still exist.
I was just trying to figure out if you are stating your preference, or if I might see you chained down at the site of a new Wal-Mart with a bulldozer bearing down on you.
Great observations here. I am surprised that MCD's was able to garner this crowd because A. They do not allow smoking, B. Their chairs are not comfortable. I bypass Starbucks and Caribou usually as well, but only because I cannot afford them. I greatly enjoy Caribou coffee.
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