Today, at my neighborhood bus stop, I witnessed something terrible. Here it is:
That’s right! It’s an unmanned Kombucha taproom you have to use your credit card to get into. It’s like a locked ATM but without the warmth. Obviously, this is a microcosm of everything that people complain about w/r/t New Portland. Even more annoying, it’s on a stretch of Belmont that could really have benefited from a more practical business.
I know because it’s my neighborhood. I live there.
The closest commercial district is out at 34th and Belmont. I would give anything for a well-stocked corner store near my house. A hardware store would also do the trick, or really anything that could serve a practical or community-building function and fill some of the gaps on that stretch of Belmont, which boasts very few local businesses you’d have occasion to go to daily.
I’m firmly on #TeamWellStockedCornerStore, but I would gladly have settled for yet another fucking coffee shop with succulents and taxidermy over this monstrosity.
Think about it: LOCAL BUSINESS SHOULD FOSTER COMMUNITY. A locked facility that sells ONE luxury product will not do that. It adds nothing of value to the neighborhood, and in fact I think it takes away from it, because it’s in a space that could be filled by a badly-needed business staffed by humans and open to all.
Also: if you want kombucha for some reason, YOU CAN MAKE YOUR OWN. Nextdoor is lousy with SCOBYs. This is basically a locked ATM. It’s alienating by design. I’m fucking furious.
Too bad there’s not an excellent corner store on the corner of 39th and Yamhill, one block from this location.
How can they expect me to pump my own Kombucha if I can’t even pump my own gas.
Right on, MB.
Do they think “you are responsible for anyone using your card swipe” is a binding contract?
Grow up article maker. This is the future get over it people not working fit. Boo hoo poor dear.
I’m glad this store is there and may more come. Humans are judgemental , have ugly unhappy expressions at a good sum of times now in world. Thank god a place of peace without the humans. My heroes.
I’m sorry but I’m game for the no people inside automatic serve yourself. I’ve had hell experiences at a fair some of businesses by live humans. Your experience differs from others were not all the same. Some of us are treated different because of challenges and given rude unhappy facial looks. Enough was enough & now a place to extend to people like myself whom idk maybe would like the freedom of choice no human yay option. I’m game having jobs with humans but this is America about time another choice became available so I can now have a place without the human interaction be I don’t want it and need a fing break.
I can’t tell what’s more pretentious — a kombucha automat or a writer that thinks a new corner shop or hardware store can afford to operate on Belmont.
What’s warmer than a local, (certified organic) kombucha brand, building a store environment that uses the honor system? Cheers to a new place for introverts to enjoy a chill sampling and buying experience. Personally, I shop at Fred Meyers with headphones in and I love the idea of this. And FYI, the Soma speakeasy in St. John’s is a neighborhood treasure and oozes civic pride.
Perhaps if you don’t like what’s in your neighborhood, you should fucking move. I would love to have Soma on my street corner.
Unhappy Seattlite moves to Portland to shit on local business for click bait. Before they open… this “editorial” feels more like a pissed off yelp review then anything worth the mercury paying for…
I consider the Mercury to be a professional source for local info and I think it is weak to be using the platform as means to suade readers’ perceptions based on your own individual opinion. An attempt to sabotage a local brand that is investing large sums of dollars to operate is horrible etiquitte and grounds for you being fired and reverted back to posting bullshit statuses on your personal facebook page.
It is a free market and if the business is not meant to be then it will not have enough patrons and it will eventually shutdown. You sound miserable with your new portland old portland shit. Get the fk over it or leave. Its been established for a hwile that portland is not the same place as it was 10 years ago. You are a little late to the party of trying to change anything through y our whiney-ass article about the one of many local businesses that are changing portland from what it used to be.
speaking of hardware store – me and my mother noticed that there used to be a lot more small hardware stores, placed at convenient locations. Now you have to drive. Why do you suppose that Orchard hardware by Hollywood max stop always seems to be empty. It has a parking lot and lots of traffic to the Trader Joe’s across the street.
Do people really think that “this is the future deal with it” and “If you don’t like it move” constitute legitimate arguments? Because they don’t.
If you don’t like it, move.
More comments! https://www.reddit.com/r/Portland/commen…
or google “Hey, Southeast Portland! Here’s the Locked, Unmanned … – Reddit” if the link doesn’t work.
Peace