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What’s on Somerville Neighborhood News
In this segment of Somerville Neighborhood News we want to showcase the segment on one of Union Square’s iconic stores: The Vango Convenience
The Vango Convenience Store and its Mascot Hunter the dog has been a landmark in Union Square for more than a decade. On September 15 the doors will close and Hunter, known as the Mayor of Union Square will retire. It’s part of the rapidly changing face of the Square as small businesses succumb to rising rents and gentrification.
Somerville Neighborhood News is a production of Somerville Community Access Television, made by professional journalists, volunteers and staff. The half-hour news show has as its mission to provide a lively, informative newscast focusing on the events, issues and information impacting Somerville residents. http://www.scatvsomerville.org/snn/
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“as small businesses succumb to rising rents and gentrification” Righto, as if nothing would be done… Thank you Curtatone!
it is heartbreaking i always bought cigs candy cig tubes etc i loved hunter
and the kitty rent is high enough and this bum had to jack it up again.
its all aboutt the money greed real life monopoly game. bankrupt!
he had to do it to this poor woman. neveer mind he had to want 7 grand
for a fire alarm system. i hope he sees hunter barking at him in his
dreams!
Gentrification… you gotta love it!
This is bigger than it looks. I have many friends and acquaintances in the small business world here and in the last 10 years many have had to throw in the towel. Some of these were just making enough to get by with no great income. Some were born here and started their businesses here. Many made it just by luck. We have quite a number that most people are unaware of because they had places that that were not public known businesses. And some that are still here are being heavily regulated just so their property can be acquired. I doubt a lot of people are aware of this and it is a shame to see people who poured their heart into something have to give it up. This one made the news, many more don’t.
The Gospel of Mark says, “What shall it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul.” Somerville is adding trendy restaurants and luxury condos at a blistering place. But we are losing the people who built the city. We are losing our soul.
“as small businesses succumb to rising rents and gentrification”
Gentrification may be changing the demographics of Union Square, but please don’t paint this as the end of small business. These locations moving out catered to a different type of people; new small businesses have been moving in (Union Juice, Veggie Crust, Momo n’ Curry, Workbar, Union Donut.. to name a few). They appeal to the hip and professional crowds.
I personally welcome the change. Maybe there will be something useful in that spot now… a small restaurant or a bar is far better in my opinion than a lottery and cigar quickie mart.
@ Ed – The “hip and professional crowds” are not the only folks who
populate Union Square…
I for one do not welcome any change that caters only to a particular segment of the population, especially one that gets lauded for bringing so-called “vibrancy” to the Square, or gets bogus points for having
“discovered” the Square, as if other long-term denizens were invisible
and unworthy of consideration in the first place.
The greatest danger will be if redevelopment occurs with only the “hip and professional crowd” in contention, to the exclusion of other Somerville residents.
Mr. Shelton, you captured it briefly and perfectly. Somerville is losing its soul.
I have lived here all of my 56 years, worked and spent a lot of money in this city, and have seen almost all of my life-long friends move out because they can no longer make ends meet. We have been completely marginalized by the current catering to the “hip and professional crowds” Ed prefers to socialize with. So those of us who are older and non-“professional,” who worked at non-profit jobs to assist the many needy in Somerville, and supported local businesses by purchasing a non-“hip” snack or an old-school newspaper, should just step aside lest we contaminate those more “useful,” “hip and professional” businesses merely by existing nearby.
While it’s certainly true that the character of the city is changing from that of the 70’s & 80’s (as it has been since the early 1990’s), it should be pointed out that the people who “built” it are long dead, as will we someday. There’s no such thing as a “greatest Somerville generation”.
Having said that, it seems to me like the actions of speculators are magnifying the pace of the change, leading to needlessly abrupt changes in people’s lives.
Hunter (and Thu) were great and I’ll miss them.
But let’s be real. With the exception of the awesome owner, this was a fairly generic convenience store. Since they opened, four other new convenience stores have opened within a few minutes walk (Lucky Convenience and two others on Wasington St and the convenience store in the Subway). One other convenience store closed (on Bow Street).
In the decade since this convenience store opened small businesses has flourished in Union Square, but this “news” report would have you think the opposite.
What some forget is that building the city is an ongoing process, not something that just happened in the past. And it’s not a zero sum game – new business bring business that supports older businesses as well. We are fortunate to be gaining many who are continuing the never ending process of building the city.
As someone who is in his early thirties who hanged out in Union Square in my youth, it is so confusing, what’s happening in Somerville. It’s really great to have some new businesses coming in, but they’re mostly catering to the influx of people with money to overspend on property to be close to Boston, and who are pricing lifetime families and residents out of the city. Somerville is becoming more progressive, more modern, nicer, cleaner, et cetera, but it’s also become prohibitively expensive. I think a lot of people my age, born and raised in Somerville, have the same mixed feelings. I am so happy for my friends who grew up in “Slummerville” and who can now afford to live in the All-American City version, but there are far too few of them able to afford this. It may just be “how it is,” but that doesn’t make it right, and even though I enjoy some of the bars and food and general cultural improvements whenever I’m back in the City, it has been hard to feel like Somerville wasn’t invaded by a higher class of wealthy professionals, throwing out money hand-over-fist, raising the price of everything, serving up a sort of scorched-earth policy regarding how the lower-middle class natives could handle this swift influx.
I’m so happy my nieces and nephews will grow up in a city better than the one I grew in. I do get bummed out because I can’t afford to live in my hometown. But in terms of how incredible Somerville is for young professionals and young people in 2016 (again, for those who can afford it), it’s great to see. Tough to reconcile, but great to see.
From the fact that Vango convenience is closing because the owner is retiring, the writer jumped to a comment about small business and gentrification?
If the owner is *unwillingly* retiring, the writer should say so. Or is this a natural age-related retirement? If the writer wants to connect Vango closing with some demographic trend, there should be quotes from the owner backing it up… something like “I’m closing because I can’t afford rent and my customers are moving away.”… if that is the case, which it could very well not be.
And as an aside, the article claims Vango is “iconic” and a “landmark”. I’ve lived in Union Square for a decade and have never heard of Hunter of the so-called mayor of the square, and like Ed think it’s a useless store and the location could be better used.
Supply and demand will always drive economics. Some comments seem to be ignoring that, believing that established renters and businesses do not need to compete.
In a time where fans of a yet to be restaurant (now one of the best new restaurants in america) can band together to raise funds to see it come to fruition you would imagine that long-time locals who value landmarks so treasured could band together to buy out the buildings and ensure their longevity.
If these institutions are so valuable come together and put your money where your mouth is and set up a community co-op space.