Owners of two Evanston coffee shops are trying to sort out whether they can both benefit from setting up shop within blocks of each other.
Dollop Coffee Company on Chicago Avenue at Kedzie Street and Brothers K Coffeehouse at Hinman Avenue and Main Street are the subject of a lengthy profile story on WBEZ Radio exploring that subject today.
You can listen here.
Apples and Oranges
Brothers K has wonderful coffee and great atmosphere that have contributed to it’s popularity. Dollop has a wide variety of sweet and savory pies made by the iconic pie maker Hoosier Mama. I went into Dollop recently and was surprised to see that they serve meals and not just coffee and a piece of pie. When I was in Dollop, I was impressed by how many people were buying whole pies, sometimes several pies to take home. I don’t think Dollop is just about coffee and I don’t think Brothers K customers are going to stop going there because of Dollop being nearby, unless they want a pie or a meal from Dollop. I will be going to both of these places. I thought the story was interesting, but it bears repeating that somehow Brothers K and Starbucks coexist when they are on the same block of Main Street between Chicago Ave. and Hinman.