Dec. 12, 2013 by Christian Murray
A coffee shop is opening at 41-31 Queens Blvd this February and it is not going to be a cozy, independent ma & pa store.
Instead, it will be owned and operated as a Caffe Bene franchise–part of a huge retail coffee chain.
Caffe Bene is a multi-national coffee giant based out of Korea, with more than 1,200 cafes across the globe. Its stores attempt to replicate the look and feel of traditional European coffeehouses–much like the large American coffee companies do.
The Queens Blvd store, like all Caffe Bene franchises, will be selling conventional items such as brewed coffee, hot and cold beverages, pastries, croissants, sandwiches, waffles, gelato, and so forth.
Jason Lee, a spokesman for Caffe Bene, said the Sunnyside location should open in February.
Caffe Bene has opened five cafes in New York and New Jersey since it entered the US market in 2012. The franchises are located in Times Square, Flushing, Fashion Institute of Technology, Fort Lee, NJ, and Palisades Park, NJ. The company has plans to add another forty stores–including one in Astoria– to these two states in the near future.
Lee said that many customers are attracted to Caffe Bene due to its interior design. He said the cafes have a simple layout and are built with wooden materials.
Rachel Thieme, the executive director of Sunnyside Shines, said that many Sunnysiders have told her that they would like to see another coffee shop in the neighborhood. “They are filling a need and we wish them the best,” Thieme said.
Photo: QueensPost
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44 Comments
Love Baruirs Coffee. You can also buy online, http://www.BaruirsCoffee.com
Finally opening! Any day now!
Paris Baguette would do awesome here. I was astonished how beautiful it looks and everything you buy is delish. I have been there a total of 7 times, and never spent less then $30 bucks there. Everything is fresh, and yummy. The Starbucks here is disgusting, never a place to sit. People with their laptops are there at least 3-5 hours at a time. It’s crazy.
I remember the Grind and am sorry that it went under. A bookstore? You can’t be serious!
@Reesie You just proved his point.
Christian is in business, he makes money off this community, not the other way around.
Somehow I doubt your “facts” are based on data. Perhaps you should leave the reporting to Christian Murray. Ironically, he’s probably someone you would chastise as being a hipster despite the fact that he gives so much to the community. Life must suck when you’re an ignoramus.
Reesie, you are so wrong, you reek of pretentiousness and that’s why we don’t like you.
Your kind doesn’t improve ANYthing. by what? by spending money? Sunnyside was good BEFORE you guys show up. Do you honestly think by adding some over priced coffee shop that this neighborhood will be better for it? what a joke.
Lets go over this.
Fact :The place was quiet and cheaper before you got on here
Fact : Most Hipsters who come to Sunnyside don’t involve themselves with neighbors or the community because in a few months they leave anyway.
Fact : Most Sunnyside Hipsters don’t even shop local
Fact : The only thing “improving” is a veneer of beauty coated over the north side while the south side is ignored..like always.
Fact : The new people who come in don’t like the old people.
Baruirs should have seating.
I love the idiots on here who keep referring to Sunnyside as becoming overrun with hipsters. Ha. Perhaps you are referring to young professionals who patron the establishments, are socially responsible, are educated and successful, and lead a healthy lifestyle. They are not the one who are trashing up this great neighborhood; they are the ones improving it! The reason that the neighborhood is coming alive is because of the older professional residents and the new younger professionals. You should be grateful!
Ah, I’d much rather it had been a Paris Baguette or even a Tous Les Jours. They’re terrific and I think they would do well in the neighborhood.
I really can’t see hanging out in a cafe, drinking coffee. Maybe it’s a social activity, like on that TV show? Or sitting there, surfing the web, reading, or studying. How do these places generate revenue without consistent turnover? I imagine the staff relies on tips, or do the employees make a decent living in salary? Who pays for all of the ambiance? (PS- I like Baruirs. Get your beans and go!)
sounds like someone here likes to read but made two spelling mistakes when they wrote Barnes & Noble…. i dont know i just find things like that freakin hilarious. Personally i’d like to see us get a Hole Foods!!
Sure, I’ll probably pop in every so often. Sticking with Baruir’s for coffee beans, though- you can’t top them!
A mom and pop hospital with a book store, school, and organic grocery store.
Sunnyside needs a hospital? Then again, I see so many ambulances coming off the BQE, maybe you’re right. Are you talking about one of those “chain” hospitals, or a mom & pop type of hospital?
5_foot_gremlin Bite me you sawed off douche
To sunnysiderneedalife
What are pesants?
Also, do you remember The Grind? Started out on the right foot and went downhill fast by giving reign to its teenage employees who made it their friends’ after school hangout, pumped up the volume on their favorite tunes and chased away people like me who are actually willing to spend money and frequent cafes with a quiet atmosphere.
Alpha Donuts is dumpy and not a place I want to hang out and read or do work on a laptop. Baruir has nowhere to sit. Diners smelling of grease also don’t do the trick. The Sunnyside Starbucks is a hipster hangout?? Since when?? Do you even go inside? It’s like being in Burger King, cold, dirty, loud and depressing. Full of loud teenagers, homeless and for some odd reason, church groups. NOT a comfortable place to hang out. Hoping Bene is different. I agree, I’d rather see an independent cafe similar to Aubergine, but this is next best thing so long as it’s not ruined by its own patrons.
i wonder if they know how poor all the people in sunnyside are, they are all pesants
Kim Jung Coffee
Anybody asking for a book store is an idiot.
that means you Lunar
With how many places that sell coffee in Sunnyside how is it that we need more? We need more coffee shops like we need more restaurants. There’s too many of the same stores and restaurants. The only difference between them is some small little thing that doesn’t matter. Heck we have two yogurt shops on Queens Blvd with another set to open on Green Point.
Can we get something different and useful for once?
I’d love it if Barns and Nobel would open a store around here. Lots of books nice the neighborhood library isn’t what it use to be and text books for all the college students in the neighborhood. But I doubt it will ever happen.
Agreed, QB looks like a third world ghetto at the moment.
@doc: You’re a complete tool, and Alpha Donuts is a dump.
I just checked their website and to me it’s not that bad as it sounds. I do understand that other small businesses here in Sunnyside selling coffee will have a hard time with this, but it’s something we all demanded for. Let’s hope this place doesn’t turn into a hipster hotspot just like Starbucks and that this place will support our neighborhood rather than go against it.
koreans will have little tolerance for squirts, poor guy
Excited! I can’t wait for Queens Blvd to be lined with clean, well kept restaurants and cafe. Enough with the run down 99cent stores!
Love Alpha Donuts that place reminds me of my Childhood. Real NYC at it’s best.
With The Dime branch (at 43rd St) closing, plus our only movie theatre, J.P. Horgan’s pub, and a dentist closing. Greedy developers have bought up the huge space to build God knows what. Sunnyside needs a hospital, since so many hospitals in Queens have closed. Much attention should be paid by local officials as to what Sunnyside really needs for its people. We certaintely don’t need another trendy coffee shop, or another pub.
It will be an Korean imitation of Americans having a European coffee experience. If that’s what you want, go there, I’m sure you will enjoy it. If you want an authentic NYC coffee experience, go to a diner. Alpha Donuts is a good place for that.
The hipsters are coming! The hipsters are coming!
What a shame… I was hoping it’ll turn into another dumpy hair salon.
I make coffee at home. I LOVE IT!
I get my coffee at Nita’s bakery (Greenpoint Ave) on Sunday mornings. It’s delicious and inexpensive.
More pretentious bullsh1t. If I want a real coffee shop experience I’ll go to Alpha or Pete’s. Everyone in this area is crying poverty and the rent is too high but at the same time walking around with $500 smart phones and Ipads. Then they go to Starbucks and overpay for 500 calorie coffee. It just fucking coffee, if you pay more than a buck a cup you’re an idiot.
I’m very much looking forward to this!
Next to that dirty little bike shop with their grease outside and all around the corner??
That’s crazy! I can’t believe Caffe Bene is opening up in Sunnyside. . . Baruir’s coffee is great, but at least you can chill at Bene. . . there isn’t much room to do that at Baruir’s. I kind of wish they’d just turn their store into a full time cafe.
Good! Another clean, respectable looking business. No more deli dumps. I have high hopes. A tiny mom and pop shop would have been preferred, but this is still better than a rundown pharmacy!
Baruir’s is the best!
meh, I’m sure us yuppies and hipsters would rather support Baruirs.
i was hoping for a mom and pop place rather than a chain…oh well.
Well, at least it’s not a dumpy deli serving swill for coffee, which is what I was afraid of. Weird coincidence, I went to Caffe Bene’s Times Sq. location for the first time ever this morning. Had never seen or heard of it before today. My first thought was that for a Times Sq. chain cafe it wasn’t bad, and in the back they had something called a “bookstore cafe”. I didn’t have time to check it out, but I did see books on the shelves. The atmosphere was relatively quiet considering the locale, however I don’t expect that to occur in Sunnyside. One need only look at how overrun and loud the Queens Ave. Starbucks is to see that a Caffe Bene in Sunnyside will be just another fast food outlet full of local loud teenagers. I had an iced coffee and a waffle from Caffe Bene today. Both were mediocre, not bad, and I will probably patronize Caffe Bene for to go stuff due to its proximity to my apartment, but when I want a real cafe scene, I will head to Aubergine or Cafe Marlene. Hopefully the Caffe Bene owners will read this and make an effort that there is a quiet enough atmosphere that cafe lovers will want to stick around for awhile.