I’m Ambivalent…Again

Generally, I consider myself a person with strong opinions, strongly held. Yet recently I found myself expressing my ambivalence about the possible effects of a GEIS on local businesses. I thought I had got all of that wishy-washiness out of my system, but as soon as I started to think about the new coffee shop that opened on the site of the former Harbor Deli here in Sag Hampton, ambivalence reared its ugly head once again.

I’ve heard some grumbling on the street about the new Golden Pear coffee shop in town. Some folks are feeling put out at having lost a local hangout when the Harbor Deli closed up shop. I’ve also heard a few people refer to the Golden Pear as a chain restaurant, with all the negative baggage that implies. Well, I do hate to see yet another one of Sag Harbor’s unique mix of homey shops disappear and be replaced by something more generically Hamptons, which is certainly how you would describe the Golden Pear. But, to call the Golden Pear a chain restaurant, implying that it is somehow akin to Appleby’s, Subway or Starbucks is a little over the top. Generic as it is in design and offerings, the Golden Pear is only a small locally-owned chain, whose reach does not extend beyond the Hamptons (although some would argue that their Westhampton branch — being west of the canal — is not actually in the Hamptons). So, while I miss the Harbor Deli, and wish it had been sold to someone who would have retained its local hometown flavor — including the dining area where many locals enjoyed whiling away an afternoon — I do not see the Golden Pear as the first incursion of a “chain” restaurant into Sag Harbor; paving the way for Outback Steakhouse. I say let’s give it a chance to become a part of the community.

However — and here’s where the ambivalence comes in — in the spirit of giving it a chance, I recently bought a medium coffee and a buttered bagel for myself, and a small coffee for a friend, and the tab came to $6.14 (including tax). That’s an incursion of a different kind, and I don’t like it one bit. The same items purchased at the bakery in Schiavoni’s IGA would cost approximately $4.00. If the Golden Pear wants to attract local patrons, then they can’t be charging absurd Hamptonesque prices. So, I’m of two minds about the Golden Pear; I want to give them a chance, but given their prices, I won’t be able to afford to do so. Will you?

Update: This morning (6/25/06) my wife and I had breakfast at Panera Bread, the local outpost of a national chain that has recently opened at the Bridgehampton Commons. While the look of the place is pretty much what you’d expect from a chain restaurant (plastic attractive), the food (at least what we ate) was above average and the prices were low. We had a large coffee with unlimited refills, a bagel with cream cheese, a muffin, and a small fruit cup; total cost: $7.88 (including tax). Please don’t make the mistake of thinking that I’m saying low prices = good; high prices = bad. If that were true, I’d shop at Walmart, which I won’t. However, I do believe that protectionist impulses (such as keeping national chains off Main Street) must be tempered by the knowledge that it is often only those national chains that offer goods and services at prices affordable to the working people who keep this area functioning. So, while the  second-palace owners  think nothing of dropping $6.14 at the Golden Pear for  two coffees and a bagel, the rest of us will be breakfasting at Panera Bread (at least until GP wises up).