City Perk (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Back Mountain: sale, 2009, how much)

[ScranBarre]

I just thought I'd let everyone know that Downtown Pittston has recently welcomed several new businesses, which include an Irish pub, an antiques store, and a new coffee house known as City Perk. A friend and I scoped this place out last night after seeing an article about it in the Times-Leader newspaper, and we were happy to see another younger person trying to help bring NEPA back from life support with a new business venture. The place isn't anything spectacular given that the owner obviously has very little start-up capital, but there were a couple of comfy chairs and couches off the left with some smaller tables and a long counter. As a non-coffee drinker I ordered a smoothie made with Vitamin Water and a chocolate-covered tandy-kake, and my friend ordered a coffee. We decided to sit and chat at a small table while I fed $3 into the iTunes jukebox on the wall. We made some idle banter with the owner, Amie O'Kane, who said that business has been surprisingly strong for her, which I was happy to hear.

Here is a link to the article in regards to Ms O'Kane's new Pittston coffee house and her planned giant coffee-mug-shaped venture near Wilkes-Barre.

Woman grinds out coffee shop opportunity | Wilkes-Barre News | The Times Leader

[W-B proud]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I just thought I'd let everyone know that Downtown Pittston has recently welcomed several new businesses, which include an Irish pub, an antiques store, and a new coffee house known as City Perk. A friend and I scoped this place out last night after seeing an article about it in the Times-Leader newspaper, and we were happy to see another younger person trying to help bring NEPA back from life support with a new business venture. The place isn't anything spectacular given that the owner obviously has very little start-up capital, but there were a couple of comfy chairs and couches off the left with some smaller tables and a long counter. As a non-coffee drinker I ordered a smoothie made with Vitamin Water and a chocolate-covered tandy-kake, and my friend ordered a coffee. We decided to sit and chat at a small table while I fed $3 into the iTunes jukebox on the wall. We made some idle banter with the owner, Amie O'Kane, who said that business has been surprisingly strong for her, which I was happy to hear.

Here is a link to the article in regards to Ms O'Kane's new Pittston coffee house and her planned giant coffee-mug-shaped venture near Wilkes-Barre.

Woman grinds out coffee shop opportunity | Wilkes-Barre News | The Times Leader

That's great news for Pittston. It seems that most of the cities in NEPA have new buisnessess opening in thier downtowns despite the bad economy. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of them because none of our cities get the positive media coverage they deserve (except for Scranton)as for the rest of us, the camera crews only show up when there is a shooting, stabbing, or an armed robbery, certainly not when a new buisness opens, or a fiesta, or a convention ect. only Scranton gets to enjoy that kind of coverage. Scranton must secretly be paying the local news stations to show that city in a positive light. As for that new coffee shop, that giant coffee mug is gonna look cool when it's complete, maybe the giant purple and white cow on Rt.309 can take a sip from it. Anyway, I wish them luck with thier venture. I'll definately try it out when it opens.

[I LOVE PA!]

Good for her, what a wonderful story!!! If I lived closer, I'd definitely check it out! I just LOVE the big coffee cup!! Great idea! Also love her idea about the teen refuge. Would definitely love to help her out on that as a volunteer.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by I LOVE PA!

Good for her, what a wonderful story!!! If I lived closer, I'd definitely check it out! I just LOVE the big coffee cup!! Great idea! Also love her idea about the teen refuge. Would definitely love to help her out on that as a volunteer.

I'm spreading the word about City Perk to all of my friends in the Pittston area (and fortunately for Ms. O'Kane I've befriended practically 15% of the city through online social networking, so her business should be picking up before long). It's certainly no Northern Light in Scranton or Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, but with a little love and TLC that store, coupled with the other new businesses opening up downtown and the new Victorian-era street scape (paid for by the nearby oft-maligned Mohegan Sun Casino may I add), could be the little bits and pieces that will all pull together to help Pittston become a viable place to visit and live in again after years of massive "flight" to the suburban areas (the city's present population is only 1/3 its heyday population of 21,000!)

She seemed like a genuinely nice person---albeit very overstressed. If I were straight I most certainly would have asked for her number because SHE is the type of person I'd like to be with because regardless of adversity she never failed to persevere with a "can do" attitude! We need more people in NEPA like Amie! It's very admirable how much she seems to genuinely care about the well-being of others. I hope to stop back down on Monday evening with some more friends.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by W-B proud

That's great news for Pittston. It seems that most of the cities in NEPA have new buisnessess opening in thier downtowns despite the bad economy. Unfortunately, not many people are aware of them because none of our cities get the positive media coverage they deserve (except for Scranton)as for the rest of us, the camera crews only show up when there is a shooting, stabbing, or an armed robbery, certainly not when a new buisness opens, or a fiesta, or a convention ect. only Scranton gets to enjoy that kind of coverage. Scranton must secretly be paying the local news stations to show that city in a positive light. As for that new coffee shop, that giant coffee mug is gonna look cool when it's complete, maybe the giant purple and white cow on Rt.309 can take a sip from it. Anyway, I wish them luck with thier venture. I'll definately try it out when it opens.

Considering I work for a big-box chain store myself I probably sound like your typical "Do as I say, not as I do" bleeding heart Democrat here, but I always advocate shopping and dining locally whenever possible. When customers come to our store and are unable to locate what they need to complete their project that day, I always wholeheartedly recommend places like Luzerne Lumber, Dundee Gardens, Back Mountain Agway, Penn State Seed, Pro Fix, Vac-Way, Walter's Hardware, etc. BEFORE even mentioning Home Depot, Wal-Mart, or even regional chains like EPSCO. It was so satisfying last night to give a few dollars to Ms. O'Kane at her coffee shop knowing that she might use that money to buy her daughter a new pair of shoes from Penn-Lee Footwear in Wilkes-Barre, where the owners would then spend THAT money to buy a tripe dinner at the Lincoln Inn in Dupont, whose owners would then go to buy something from me at Lowe's so I could use my commission from that sale to buy something else locally, perhaps getting that "Solar is Sexy" t-shirt I've been eying up at GreenBeing in Scranton, where a part of the proceeds may go to benefit some sort of ecologically-conscious project. When you go to Wal-Mart, you can't help but feel just a tad bit guilty knowing that there is indeed a hidden cost to those "Everyday Low Prices"---one that would have poor Sam Walton rolling over in his grave!

I'd recommend that everyone in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metro area picks up an occasional copy of The Independent and/or scopes out their website at IndependentNEPA September 2008 Some of their very well-written articles have completely reshaped the way I view my own consumer spending habits, and I'm hoping that if enough people start shunning the major corporate chains in favor of "the little guys" that our downtowns will continue to become revitalized. Imagine Scranton teeming with foot traffic as an 18-hour city the likes of parts of Manhattan. I can. All it takes is a bit of devotion and dedication to throw those who operate independent businesses in our communities an occasional flip of the pocketbook.