Corner Bakery Cafe and Smoothie King entering Pittsburgh market (Westmont: real estate, 2015)

[lifepgh2op]

Corner Bakery Cafe is planning 8 locations in Pittsburgh's North Hills while Smoothie King is opening in Collier Township (Bridgeville), planning a location in Wexford, and other locations unannounced at this time.

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2015/09/08/smoothie-king-to-add-western-pennsylvania.html

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburg...-northern.html

[Blackbeauty212]

And here comes the Chains .... One thing I liked about the Burgh over the East Coast cities was that it was still largely Mom/Pop/Local oriented stores and restaurants ... Big National Chains for the most part skipped over Pittsburgh.....

Now with Dunkin Donuts, Chipotle, Five Guys, Popeyes etc starting to spring up everywhere is the pushing out the M&Ps evitable ..... I wonder if the Burgh is the next victim to Homogeneous National Chain Overload. I guess Cosi's will be here soon enough too, Oh Gosh.

[UKyank]

I see no reason the two can't coexist harmoniously

[sealie]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I see no reason the two can't coexist harmoniously

It's not even like Pittsburgh is overwhelmed by a deluge of smoothie shacks in the first place. And this is all in the burbs anyway, right?

[Blackbeauty212]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I see no reason the two can't coexist harmoniously

Originally Posted by sealie

It's not even like Pittsburgh is overwhelmed by a deluge of smoothie shacks in the first place. And this is all in the burbs anyway, right?

Yea, tell that to places like NYC, DC and Philly ..... National Chains eventually will push out the M&Ps, it will all become homogeneous...

[PghYinzer]

Nothing more depressing than the disappearance of the the local neighborhood Mom and Pop smoothie shop.....

[tclifton]

Originally Posted by Blackbeauty212

Yea, tell that to places like NYC, DC and Philly ..... National Chains eventually will push out the M&Ps, it will all become homogeneous...

Aren't a lot of chains just M&P's that did really well?

[tclifton]

Five Guys specifically were started by Mom and Pop!

Five Guys was founded in 1986 by Janie and Jerry Murrell; Jerry and the couple's sons, Matt, Jim, Chad, and Ben, were the original "Five Guys." The Murrells had a fifth son, Tyler, two years later. Today, all five sons, the current "Five Guys", are involved: Matt and Jim travel the country visiting stores, Chad oversees training, Ben selects the franchisees, and Tyler runs the bakery. The first Five Guys was in Arlington's Westmont Shopping Center. Buns were baked in the same center by Brenner's Bakery.

[Moby Hick]

I don't hold with adults drinking smoothies, even if sold by royalty.

[sskink]

Originally Posted by UKyank

I see no reason the two can't coexist harmoniously

Chains eventually take over not because of the food, but because of real estate. Landlords are much more inclined to offer a better deal on a better location to a chain than an independent. And as that trend continues, indies get pushed out to lesser quality locations, making success more difficult.