NYC Is Over: Starbucks To Move Into East Village's Bastion Of Counterculture

EAST VILLAGE, NY — St. Mark's Place, historically a landmark to counterculture, is about to become home to Starbucks. The corporate giant is moving into the street which, not so long ago, was lined mainly with tattoo parlors and head shops and which had a central role in the punk movement.

And a lot of the locals aren't happy.

Protesters gathered Thursday outside 125 St. Mark's Place to demand measures that would help protect local, independently-owned businesses. Activists say the Starbucks is just the latest in a steady trail of chain stores that have moved into the area, pricing out smaller businesses.

Independent stores in the East Village and throughout New York City have increasingly called for steps that would help encourage small business growth as Manhattan's skyrocketing leases have driven independent owners out of storefronts. News of retailers like Target and Trader Joe's announcing plans to open in the East Village have made local store owners nervous for their futures.

The Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and other local groups organized Thursday's rally, encouraging community members and local businesses to voice their support for a proposed "special business district" that's currently before Community Board 3, which includes the East Village.

The activists gathered on Thursday said they weren't trying to halt the opening of this specific Starbucks, but rather demanded regulations in the neighborhood that would stop the future encroachment of large businesses. (Want more local news? Sign up here to get free news alerts and neighborhood updates from the East Village Patch.)

Charles Branstool, of the Exit 9 Gift Emporium, called for the special business district to be implemented.

"We're not able to stop this from happening, it's happening already," Branstool said of the Starbucks. "The good news is that there's a ... special district zoning that could, if initiated, help protect the character and the charm of the East Village."

As it's currently written, the proposed zoning regulations would prohibit more than one chain store per block and restrict sizes for restaurants, banks and shops.

Free coffee was distributed at the rally by Mud, the longtime East Village coffee shop that will soon be located just a few blocks away from Starbucks.

"It does come down to the fact that this is one of the most special, unique neighborhoods around," James Armata, Mud's general manager, told Patch. "It keeps on getting less and less so with constant chains moving in. It could be Starbucks, it could be anything."

The activists at Thursday's rally also advocated for another measure they say would help protect local businesses: the Small Business Jobs Survival Act. The bill, which has sat in City Council for years, would give commercial tenants a right to renew their lease, among other measures.

Advocates say tehse steps would help preserve longtime community pillars like Angelica Kitchen which closed its doors this year after 40 years in the neighborhood, citing an unsustainable rent increase.

Read Patch's previous coverage of this issue here:

• Activists Mull Ways To Help NYC's Mom & Pop Stores Fight Back Against Chains
• Mom And Pop Store Owners Flood East Village Meeting Seeking Allies In Fight Against Chains

Images via Ciara McCarthy / Patch. Lead photo: The Starbucks branch located near Astor Place, just blocks from where another Starbucks will open on St. Mark's Place.