Coffee With A View

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 10:26 am

[url="http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/27/topless.coffee.shop/index.html?iref=mpstoryview"]Topless coffee shop a hit in small Maine town[/url]

It's a tough time for businesses, but one entrepreneur may have found the recipe for success.

On Monday, Donald Crabtree opened Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro, Maine, where the waiters and waitresses serve their customers topless.

In a town with fewer than 4,500 residents, the topless coffee shop is booming with business. Paul Crabtree, the owner's brother, describes business so far as "fantastic."

"It's just been crowds mobbing in," he said.

Donald Crabtree faced initial opposition to his plan, but he won the right to go ahead in a planning board hearing last week. Many local residents were irate over the idea of combining coffee and nudity. Crabtree, however, saw a profitable business venture.

"I know what people want," he said. "People like nudity, and coffee is profitable. Sure, I'd start a coffee shop, but I'd be out of work in a week."

The flood of job applications -- more than 150 -- for Grand View Topless Coffee Shop reflected the rough job market.

Crabtree hired 10 women and five men under stringent requirements, including friendliness and, what he considered most important, that the wait staff "treat everyone equally." Watch townspeople, employees talk about coffee shop Video

"We didn't hire '10s,' " he said, referring to appearance. "We hired everyone from skinny to big-boned women."

Of the 15 selected, most had been laid off from other jobs in the past few months.

Elvis Thompson of Brunswick, for example, was a line cook at a restaurant before he lost his job. "They couldn't afford me anymore," he said.

He said he doesn't mind fielding interesting requests from customers.

"An 80-year-old woman told me she wanted to see me in spandex," Thompson said. "I just feel really lucky to have a job. I need the money so I can pay my rent."

Ginni Labree from Palermo, Maine, said she applied to several restaurants before being hired at the Grand View. All the restaurants declined to hire her because of her lack of experience.

"I'm so excited, so excited to have a job," she said.

The coffee shop jobs are paying off. One waitress received a $100 tip for a cup of coffee, and most of the wait staff make about $30 a table.

Although the topless coffee shop has been open less than a week, Crabtree said he is already seeing regulars. Customers include a variety of individuals, but mainly couples and females.
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He also sees his new business venture as a temporary fix for customers struggling through tough economic times.

"The economy is so bad," Crabtree said, "Everyone's losing their homes, their ties, everything they own. People leave here happy and can't wait to come back. It's nice to see people smile again."

Gwalchmai · Post by **Gwalchmai** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 1:34 pm

LOL! When I was younger in Colorado, there was a shop called Debbie Does Donuts - I think it stayed open for several years!

BlueSky · Post by **BlueSky** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:01 pm

Oh My!!!

I do Love my Java....:laugh:

jklinders · Post by **jklinders** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:53 pm

someone had to say it

So Maine coffee shops are getting a "hot coffee mod"?

:laugh:

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 5:07 pm

Maine is a fun state, very individualistic. My wife worked up there for about 2 years. One small town--about 30,000 people--had 3 Indian restaurants, and no Indian residents.

They also had a chakra clinic. Let's face it, if you're going to live in such an inhospitable area when it would be easier to live in cushier surroundings, you're going to be someone interested in finding odd solutions to the problems of life.

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:12 pm

Maine has long been on my "to visit list" but I haven't yet managed to make it that way.
Though, if I do, Vassalboro might just be on my itinerary... to appreciate the coffee of course....

LeoStarDragon1 · Post by **LeoStarDragon1** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:43 pm

Hello!

#00: I'm reminded of that episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies" when they
opened a "topless diner" without knowing what one was. :laugh:

#01: Ahem. Males go "shirtless" to seperate them from topless females.

#02: Oklahoma City supposedly had a coffee place orwhere the waitresses
had cream on their breasts as pasties. ("Pastry pasties"!

) I read
about that in an issue of "PLAYBOY Magazine" in the 1980's. I've
never read or heard of it ever since. Moore once had a topless
barber shop, but somebody ruined it by soliciting, so it got closed.
Norman supposedly has a topless check cashing place, with a tip
jar that reads, "Enjoy our ****! Please leave tips!" I also read about
that place in a later issue. Don't know if it still exists though. I'd never
been to either.

#03: I want to go in stages, first "Hooters", then something sexier.

#04: Smokers make me sick. I don't like being around drunks. I don't drink
coffee. I need a place safe for hyperglycemic diabetics with high blood
pressure and high chlorestrial. So until such a place exists, I'll just have
to make do with any pictures that any of you send to me.

#05: I suppose the shirtless males would be no different than being near
a swimming pool or beach. But still..... Plus no "10's"?! If he's going by
the inverted scale made for the movie, wheras the author had it where
"Being #1" was the goal. But in either case, what's my incentive for
going to this particular place? I see regular people, well not everyday,
but when I do go out. Argh! Number scales! I tried to make one that
would make sense to me, with Medusa the Gorgan being a "-10" and with
Aphrodite being the "+10" and "0" representing "average/normal", but
then I didn't know who I could use to fill in those blanks inbetween -10
and +10. Now I feel like George Constanza!

#06: In summary, I only want to go to places with pretty enough gals

, no
guys

, thank you very much!

dragon wench · Post by **dragon wench** » Sat Feb 28, 2009 7:15 pm

LeoStarDragon1 wrote: #06: In summary, I only want to go to places with pretty enough gals , no
guys , thank you very much!

Actually, I like the concept of this coffee shop precisely because it has "views" for all... I hate places that are topless females (or males) only... Not because I'm concerned about only seeing topless women, but rather, because it's pretty damned sexist...

But, then again, I've spent plenty of time on nude and semi-nude beaches so it's just not something I get too worked up about on any level.

LeoStarDragon1 · Post by **LeoStarDragon1** » Sun Mar 01, 2009 11:55 am

dragon wench wrote:Actually, I like the concept of this coffee shop precisely because it has "views" for all... I hate places that are topless females (or males) only... Not because I'm concerned about only seeing topless women, but rather, because it's pretty damned sexist...

But, then again, I've spent plenty of time on nude and semi-nude beaches so it's just not something I get too worked up about on any level.

"Pretty damned sexist"? Hm. "Pretty"? I'd hope so. "Damned"? I'm not in charge of that, so I wouldn't know, but I'd hope not! "Sexist"? "Sexy" is what I was aiming at. Guys aren't sexy to me, gals are. That's what I find sexy. Any bias is purely coicidental based on my sexual orientation and sexual gender.

Like, your avatar, as far as I can tell, it is a sexy female that looks
familier to me somehow, but I can't quite place her identity in my mind yet.

I'd hate places with men, because I'm a man. Mixed up places, just ruin my dreams by making them nightmares. It is bad enough that I have to fight off the competition in my dreams to even try and get close to a girl!

I anticipated that you might write what you wrote in your first line, based on your postings. I've never been to the California beaches as far as I know. If I ever was, it was when I was under 4 years of age. The move from Honolulu involved landing in San Francisco, and then driving to San Antonio. We have very few pictures of points of interest along the way and beaches don't seem to be in any of them. I'd imagine we stopped in Bakersfield to visit the relatives there though.

Anyway, I've seen various "Celebrity Let's Party" erotic videos, and seeing how the guys in them behaved, partly turned me off to going to places that feature erotic activity, like wet T-shirt contests, et cetera. I want to yell at them to shut the hell up! So in my fantasies, I'm the only male around to view such activities.

Yes, frequent exposure can build up a certain emotional immunity to such views. 8th Grade was so risky!

I was one of 2 guys in English and where I sat, near the podium, the girls were so close and at just the right eye level. I didn't want to be called up to speak! I had to find a way to learn how to not have involuntary arousal if I were to get through school et cetera, without public embarressment. So looking at erotica became the treatment.

However, well, never mind, this forum it too public to continue!