The Rest of the Cafe Gutenberg for Sale Story

Picture from the RVA Business Real Estate listing. Click the image for details.

Our good buddy Jason (aka @rvafoodie) has a guest blog post on his blog Caramelized Opinion by Chef Jen Mindell of Cafe Gutenberg clearing up what she feels are some misconceptions about the original write up of the sale of the cafe and of Shockoe Bottom in general. This is a must read for all the folks the work, play, or live in the Shockoe area. Nice writing by Chef Jen and nice job by Jason getting this published. The quote below sums it up for me put you need to read the entire post.

Shockoe Bottom, on the other hand, is a community of it’s own design. The real deal, baby. It hasn’t been dolled up by the city, and the businesses here have chosen it instead of vice versa. Consequently it has the elements that a collective prejudice tends to prey on: It has a rich nightlife culture that’s predominantly working class. It has some empty storefronts that “must be vacant for a reason”. It’s businesses are small and, with that, the margin for error is fragile. It isn’t yet filled with expensive boutiques to make people feel the false security of  life- improving knicknacks . In short, it’s a very REAL snapshot of your average American city. Pretty badass if you ask me. But instead of receiving support, its merchants get put under the microscope, the media trying to glean some greater story from the everyday struggles of small business.