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Old 11-13-2013, 05:03 PM
 
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I want to start a little coffee bar in Chicago. What neighborhood will be good to start a small coffee bar that has like some coffee drinks and some baked goods? I want lots of potential foot traffic
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:05 PM
 
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Avondale, specifically on Belmont between California and Sacramento. The area is kind of booming in regards to hot businesses/restaurants. There are some good empty storefronts on Belmont next to Kuma's. The thing is there really isn't a coffee shop in that area, but it is much needed and trust me if you put one there A LOT of people in the area would be happy.
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:09 PM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
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Depends on if you want an up and coming neighborhood or a currently established one?

* Established - Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Andersonville/Edgewater, North Center, Hyde Park, University Village/Little Italy, etc. Also some parts of the Gold Coast or River North are still neighborhoody (especially Gold Coast).

* Up and Coming - Avondale, parts of Logan Square, Ukrainian Village/East Village/Noble Square, maybe parts of Humboldt Park closer to UK Village, Bridgeport, Pilsen, Albany Park, Rogers Park, maybe Bronzeville.
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:15 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu View Post
Depends on if you want an up and coming neighborhood or a currently established one?

* Established - Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Wicker Park, Bucktown, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Andersonville/Edgewater, North Center, Hyde Park, University Village/Little Italy, etc. Also some parts of the Gold Coast or River North are still neighborhoody (especially Gold Coast).

* Up and Coming - Avondale, parts of Logan Square, Ukrainian Village/East Village/Noble Square, maybe parts of Humboldt Park closer to UK Village, Bridgeport, Pilsen, Albany Park, Rogers Park, maybe Bronzeville.
Logan Square though in the northern section is starting to get a little saturated with coffee shops though.
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:17 PM
 
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I want up and coming because it will be a few years before I move there.
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:25 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazziecatz View Post
I want up and coming because it will be a few years before I move there.
From my experience I would shoot for Avondale. It's really lacking a good coffee shop, but it has a huge influx of hipsters and young professionals moving in, and a lot of hot restaurants that are very popular, like Kuma's, Honey Butter Fried Chicken, Hot Doug's just to name a few.
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:27 PM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jazziecatz View Post
I want up and coming because it will be a few years before I move there.
That's good. I am glad someone wants to invest in an up and coming area of the city - that's great. I think for those areas knowing the culture and population centers help. Most of these areas have more than enough people in them.

Another thing to look at is, maybe, looking at the train stops. Personally, once I see a place is within short walking distance to a train stop, it makes it more attractive to me. Pretty much all of the areas I listed have train stops in them with the exception of Humboldt Park. Ukrainian Village/East Village/Noble Square area has one stop kind of on the edge.

Bronzeville to me has always been fascinating. It was basically Chicago's Harlem and very historic AA community. Some of the biggest names in Jazz and Blues history used to hang out in that neighborhood too. Great location, with a train stop or two and it's only like a 15 minute ride on the Green Line train to the middle of the Loop. I don't understand how it's not bigger again (it used to be huge - but the living conditions were terrible). There's only 20,000 people there today (80,000 were there in 1950), although the Illinois Institute of Technology is there which has about 8000 students.

As UrbanCheetah has stated though, Avondale would not be a bad location for it if you don't contribute to the resurgence of a once great neighborhood like Bronzeville. I also think that Albany Park is a good candidate. This is a place that's really racially integrated with a few train stops on it and about 55,000 people. It's home to Koreatown (or what's left of it) and also now a small kind of "little Arab" section of town. A lot of Hispanic people there as well. Great area that a lot of yuppies kind of haven't discovered yet but has a lot of people (a lot of families).
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:29 PM
 
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Really well written article:

My coffeehouse nightmare.
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Old 11-13-2013, 05:34 PM
 
Location: Upper West Side, Manhattan, NYC
15,331 posts, read 23,841,495 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chet everett View Post
Really well written article:

My coffeehouse nightmare.
You could say this about many businesses. Although many stay open, they can cause headaches for the owners very often. The author of this article also opened one up in the Lower East Side. That is a little different than opening up one in an "up and coming" neighborhood IMO. Both can cause headaches, but financially it may be a bit different.
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Old 11-13-2013, 07:06 PM
 
25 posts, read 36,727 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marothisu View Post
You could say this about many businesses. Although many stay open, they can cause headaches for the owners very often. The author of this article also opened one up in the Lower East Side. That is a little different than opening up one in an "up and coming" neighborhood IMO. Both can cause headaches, but financially it may be a bit different.
I agree also New York is a very different city.
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