‘Keep Brookside Local’? Sure, but….

New arrivals in Kansas City — whether they’re retreating after being priced out of more expensive coastal metros, or flocking from smaller Midwestern towns and cities for KC’s cultural amenities — haven’t heard a lot of the old stories us natives know by heart. Sometimes these stories are worth repeating. Here’s a heartwarming tale you might not know if you’re young or new in town. 

In the late nineties, Starbucks moved into the Westport corner currently occupied by HopCat. Next door, of course, was Broadway Cafe, the wonderful independent coffee shop frequented by Kansas City’s greatest weirdos, artists, and eccentrics. Everybody was afraid Starbucks was going to put Broadway out of business. Instead, ten years later, the Starbucks shuttered. Broadway prevailed. Score one for the little guy. 

A much lamer version of this story is currently playing out in Brookside, where signs singing “Keep Brookside Local” sprout from the neighborhood’s well-manicured lawns. This campaign, or whatever you want to call it, is the handiwork of Danny O’Neill, owner of local coffee chain The Roasterie. It’s a reaction to the news, long rumored but official as of January 1, that a Starbucks was coming to Brookside’s quaint, old, cute shopping district. 

Support local businesses? Sure. But there are a few inconvenient truths about #KeepBrooksideLocal. First is that the Starbucks is replacing Mr. Goodcents, which is itself a national chain. Second is that there are already tons of non-local establishments in Brookside. Third is that O’Neill only got vocal about local when the newest kid on the block turned out to be a direct competitor to his business. Where were his signs when Panera Bread, CVS, Vitamin Shoppe, and Bank of America set up shop in Brookside? 

“This isn’t about Starbucks,” O’Neill told me recently. “This is about not wanting Brookside to go the way of the Plaza or Prairie Village [Shopping Center] where it’s all international chains. As somebody who has lived in Brookside since 1991, for me that would just suck. So, hopefully, this [campaign] is something that gets people thinking about whether they want Brookside to be the next home of a Buffalo Wild Wings, or whatever.” 

In a separate blog post on the Roasterie’s website, O’Neill went so far as to say that First Washington Realty, which owns the majority of commercial property in Brookside, “gets it” — meaning the importance of local. At the end of November, First Washington — a Maryland-based company with real estate investments in about 20 different states — booted Shopgirls (a local business) out of its Brookside space. The owner told the Star that she’d never once been late on rent in 10 years, but that she was nevertheless “unable to come to reasonable terms” with First Washington on a new lease. 

The man responsible for bringing Starbucks to Brookside, and the target of O’Neill’s passive aggression, is Joe Zwillenberg. Best known for owning Westport Flea Market, Zwillenberg has, over the last half-decade, gradually bought up small chunks of Brookside that include the strip from Goodcents to Domo and the building that houses Mike’s Wine and Spirits and Jimmy John’s. He’s a Brookside guy, too, with a big-ass mansion right on Ward Parkway. Like O’Neill, Zwillenberg likes to tout his Brookside bona fides, wistfully recalling youthful days as an ice-cream scooper at Baskin-Robbins (now Avenues Bistro). 

“This is about coffee, not local,” Zwillenberg says. “It’s about competition. And, look, I get it: I remember when a Sonic moved in across the street from us at the Flea Market. But it forces you to make your business better.”

Zwillenberg says that national companies take up “about 15 percent” of the property he owns in Brookside. He shrugs off the yard signs. 

“Some people put my address on social media and said things to my kids at school,” Zwillenberg says. “It’s a minority of people, maybe five or ten people, who are actually upset about this Starbucks.” 

There’s one last tasty note to this story. In late December, the Roasterie opened a new location on the western edge of the Southmoreland neighborhood, at the corner of 43rd and Main. One block away is a Starbucks. Zwillenberg is also the landlord to that Starbucks. Payback? 

“Intellectually, I understand what you’re getting at there,” O’Neill told me. “But we’ve been working for years on that location. As far as Brookside, in a number of months the Starbucks will be open, and we’ll [Roasterie] still be open, and I’ll still be saying the same thing, which is support The Dime Store, support [Brookside] Toy and Science, support all the rest, support local. I never hear anybody say, ‘Ew, I don’t want to go there, it’s all locally owned, not enough chains.’ Do you?” 

Tips? Gossip? Hit me up: david.hudnall@pitch.com