Perk Up, Greenwich Village! Stumptown Coming to West 8th Street
By Matt Chaban January 3, 2012 12:05 pm
reprints
It’s a good week for Oregon. Last night, the Ducks won their first Rose Bowl since 1917, Portlandia has its season premier on Friday and The Observer has learned that the Rose City’s favorite coffee roaster is about to open its second New York store, a flagship planned for 30 West 8th Street in the Village.
Stumptown is one the Beaver State’s top exports, behind grass (sod, not pot), hazelnuts, Nike duds and indie rock. One of the first bean-obsessed micro-roasters in the country, Stumptown achieved a cult following in Portland, with its coveted coffee eventually showing up in cafes across the country, including those in Brooklyn and Manhattan. A few years ago, the company opened a roaster in Red Hook to ensure freshness, and when the Portland-born Ace Hotel opened in NoMad two years ago, among its trendy boutiques was a small Stumptown—all four Aces carry the coffee, in fact.
This will be the first standalone store in New York; the 10th between here, Portland and Seattle; and, if memory serves this former Oregonian, the largest of all outlets at 1,700 square feet. “This is going to be their big Manhattan roll out,” said Bill Abramson, director of sales and leasing at Buchbinder & Warren Realty Group, which represented the landlord of 30 West 8th Street.
The move is possible thanks to a sizable private equity investment made last year by TSG Consumer Partners, which counts Vitaminwater among its successful investments. Duane Sorenson, Stumptown’s founder, told The Times last June it would open two stores in Brooklyn by the fall, but so far this is the first concrete news of a new cafe. The current plans call for the Village spot to open in five months.
“They loved the space,” Mr. Abramson said. “It’s got 17-foot ceilings, it’s on the corner, they loved the brick interior of it. They just fell in love with the space.” The high population of college students, between N.Y.U., the New School and Cooper Union, was also a draw.
A Stumptown representative based in New York who declined to give his name would not confirm the particulars of the location, though he did acknowledge that the coffee company is looking at a number of locations in the city. “We’re really excited about what’s happening and the direction Stumptown is going,” the Stumper said.
The space is currently subdivided into three storefronts: Gus’ Deli and Cartridge World, both of which have termination clauses in their leases, and a vacancy where a boutique named Versailles long held court.
Mr. Abramson said the landlord had been holding out for a marquee tenant, with hopes to revive a street that was once a major commercial strip when the monied classes (first) called the Village home a century ago—the block has fallen on bargain-basement times in the past few decades. With plans for the resurrection of the Marlton House hotel at 3 West 8th Street, and now Stumptown, the area may have gotten the jolt it needs.
