Got out of the 50th Street 1 Train stop, and my eyes were unavoidably attracted to the garish Applebee's across the street. Sweet Jesus. Yellow and Red. Big signs saying "Breakfast." Can't they let up? But what's that small white sign in the second floor window?
World's Biggest Applebee's? Why, Oh Lord, does this keep happening to us? Must Midtown have the largest awful everything in the U.S.?
I can see a silver lining in this.
ReplyDeleteThe complaint over the past ten years, from myself along with other people, was as the chains invaded New York was becoming too much like other places. Why live in New York, putting up with the crowding and the high rents, and eat out in Applebee's when you can do that anywhere else in the country. Well now we have our answer. Yes, we will have chain stores just like everywhere else, but we will have the BIGGEST and the BEST chain stores. And people will come to New York to see bigger and better chain stores than the ones they get at home.
I guess its better than nothing.
Hmmm....there is a strange phenomenon here. Used to be that all the really amazing stores and restaurants were in the big cities. Macy's, everyone knew, was in NYC. But then the big-city stores started to open downsized versions of themselves in suburban shopping malls. How marvelous! Many more people could shop at "Macy's" (insert name of favorite big city store here) even if there was little chance they would ever be able to visit the "home planet" in the city itself. But now, the trend is reversing! New Yorkers who would have had to travel to New Jersey or Connecticut or maybe Yonkers to have the delightful experience of an Applebees, which could be difficult for those who don't own cars, will be able to sample those delights right here in the city center. No longer will families gaze wistfully at Olive Garden ads on TV, lamenting that they will never have a chance to experience the endless salad bar and unlimited amounts of ersatz Italian bread.
ReplyDeleteNew Yorkers have been saved, yes saved, from being deprived of the suburban chain restaurant dining experience! Rejoice!
Remember folks, in the end it's all about where you choose to spend your precious cash. Want MORE chain stores? Keep shopping in them and you'll get more of them. Want more independent, family-run, local institution type places? Then spend as much as you can in those establishments, so they can pay their ever-rising rents and still earn a living; so their children will see continuing the family biz as a viable life choice for them to make.
As for me, I expect to be spending much of Saturday afternoon in the Bohemian Beer Garden in Brooklyn.
Hey, I wonder if, seeing as how this is allegedly the world's largest Applebees......they will call it "The Big Apple-bees"?
I guess we really have TGI Fridays to thank for the likes of Applebees, and we can't too much bemoan Fridays, as it was born at 63rd and 1st in 1965. Like any other business, if people don't go to it, it will go away.
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