The Beantown Bloggery

I first heard about these types of establishments springing up on on the west coast about a year or so ago. I think a few started in Seattle to try to compete with Starbucks. Some were topless, some were women in lingerie, but the basic idea was the same. Using sex appeal to sell coffee. Well now it looks like someone might be opening one up in Maine.

Crabtree plans to open a topless coffee shop in as soon as a month here, where the biggest excitement has usually been the town picnic during Vassalboro Days each September.

In a long-vacant building that once housed Mac Daddy's Pub at the Fat Cat Grille, Crabtree plans topless service between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 25 tables arranged on a checkerboard floor behind blacked-out windows and a cordon of security.

And, in a nod to what Crabtree said were complaints "from jealous women," he plans to include a few topless males. When patrons arrive, he said, they will be asked if they prefer a male or female server.

I have doubts that this will be successful. I think he'll get a lot of press at the beginning for being the first of its kind. But I don't think the novelty will last for too long.

PS. Here's my favorite line from the article:

"My husband doesn't drink coffee," said Erlile Pelletier, as she worked the cash register at Ferris Variety. "But I told him if he became a coffee drinker, we were getting a divorce."

Click (here) to read the Globe article.