Chase bank has officially opened in the old Coffee Shop space in Union Square and, surprise, it brought its own in-branch caffeine purveyor with it. A perfect opportunity to preserve some of the look of the old space! Except, well, let's just rip this Band-Aid off:
This used to be Coffee Shop
Welcome to the combination Joe Coffee-Chase Bank.
This isn't the first time Joe Coffee has partnered with another company—they used to operate a shop out of the lux Cadillac House on Hudson (RIP), serving coffee just a few feet away from the latest $70,000 floor models. Around 2007, they also opened a pop-up in Alessi, the Italian housewares manufacturer.
In a phone interview with Gothamist, Jonathan Rubinstein, the CEO of Joe Coffee, said the idea to pair up with Chase came from Danny Meyer, Union Square Café and Shake Shack founder. In 2017, Meyer became an investor in Joe Coffee, and Rubinstein said Meyer had a relationship with Chase head, Jamie Dimon. “I think they saw each other and talked about how retail is changing and came up with the idea together,” he said.
Rubenstein says he was also drawn to the location itself—“It really is the perfect space for us,” he said, citing the proximity to the greenmarket and New York University. He also said the company was “deliberate in paying some homage” to the old Coffee Shop, leaving the floor, ceilings, exposed cinderblock and piping intact.
“It feels like Joe but if you knew Coffee Shop you would probably recognize it.” Joe's director of marketing, Margaret Watson, echoed these comments, telling us, "We made an effort to connect to the history of the space, preserving many of the features from the Coffee Shop." What, you guys don't see it?
This is Joe Coffee's 21st location (and the first outpost in which they roast coffee on site). Meanwhile, there are approximately infinite Chase locations and ATMs in the surrounding area of this once beloved space that has now been gutted and sterilized.
What this area really needs is a bank.
Coffee Shop was in business at the location (29 Union Sq W, at E 16th St) for 28 years, taking over the space from Jason's and before that, ironically, a coffee shop called Chase. Upon its closure in 2018, the co-owner Charles Milite said, "The times have changed in our industry. The rents are very high and now the minimum wage is going up and we have a huge number of employees." The place went dark in October 2018 after one last celebration. Its prime location meant it wouldn't be empty long, and it also meant that only certain tenants could afford it.
Vegan fast-casual chain by CHLOE, not in partnership with Chase, also took over a part of the old Coffee Shop, and also claimed to have paid homage to it in their design (they did not).
In their press release announcing the news, Joe Coffee declared, "An effort to connect to the history of this storied space was of top-priority; through the design, architectural features of the original Coffee Shop, including the scalloped, plastered wall, which was a main feature in the dining room of the original restaurant, and the speckled white tile storefront, have been preserved. Additional infrastructural components that might have otherwise been hidden, have remained to highlight the bones of the former space." Please accept this photo comparison as our scorching kicker, while we go scream into a $5 black hole of coffee.
