By Brian Campbell
Daily Staff Reporter
Menus crowded with densely scrawled items and prices. Window casings ensconcing muffins, bagels, croissants and tortes. The constant clinking of cups and glasses.
With numerous coffeehouses located along South University and State streets, the shops have become permanent fixtures on campus.
But the popularity of campus cafes is actually a recent phenomenon. Espresso Royale on South State Street, established in 1987, was the first to be built. Amer's Mediterranean Deli, Gratzi, Cava Java and Rendez-Vous Cafe were established in the early '90s, following the success of Espresso Royale. And even when it seemed the market was sated with cafes, still more cafes and bagel shops appeared this year.
Kelly Christiansen of the marketing department at Caribou Cafe, which opened in July, said the combination of an affluent city with the college campus made Ann Arbor an excellent place to start the business.
"We look for areas with a little higher income, and with the college, it seemed like a good fit," she said.
Jim Johanson, general manager at Cava Java, said he can charge more for a cup of coffee in Ann Arbor than in other areas because the community is wealthier.
"I would assume that we'd do better here than in Flint," he said. "Professional people will pay $2 for a cup of coffee - a blue collar worker won't."
But the popularity of cafes doesn't seem to be merely about economics or convenience, but rather the casual, social atmosphere inside them.
"Seventy-five percent of the customers come in every day - it's the personal relationship that a lot of them appreciate."
When Johanson first came to Ann Arbor, he had just quit drinking alcohol and decided to hang out in cafes instead of bars.
"It's easier to just walk up to someone in a cafe than in a bar," he said. "In a bar it's assumed that you're hitting on the person - it's less pretentious and more relaxed in a cafe."
But some students find that meeting people in cafes can be a distraction to studying.
"I only study in cafes when I don't have to study seriously because of the noise and you're probably going to run into people," said Susan Podolsky, an RC senior.
Podolsky, who used to work at a cafe, said the prices are too high.
"It's very overpriced for what they're selling. A cookie for $2? I know that's pretty outrageous."
Podolski said she might consider going to a cafe instead of a bar on a Friday or Saturday night.
"I would go to a cafe with someone under 21, or maybe over 21 to have a serious conversation," she said.
Karen Whitman, an LSA senior, also said she doesn't do particularly serious homework in coffeeshops.
"I usually just read good books in the cafe - nothing I need to have a lot of concentration for."
Whitman, who was studying in Espresso Royale this week, said she "came to have a cigarette and coffee," but had to leave her cigarettes in her purse since there is no smoking at Espresso Royale.
Most cafes are now non-smoking. However, Gratzi, located on South State Street, and Rendez-Vous Cafe on South University Avenue still allow smoking.
Most of the cafes near campus, however, are fairly small, tidy, organized places that might be more appropriately called coffeehouses or shops.
But Johanson said the distinction is hair-splitting and that many of the cafes he has visited in Italy, southern Switzerland and France resemble Cava Java's style.
Nizar Elawar, owner of Rendez-Vous Cafe, which has an international motif on the bottom floor and rooftop tables, said his cafe has the most diverse food selection.
"We have more of a variety here - a variety that nobody else has," he said. "We have fresh juices, pies, salads, ice cream and fresh pastries."
Caribou Cafe has a cabin-like atmosphere with wilderness photographs adorning the walls and dark-stained wood tables faintly reflecting the dim light from the suspended lanterns.
"We have comfortable couches and we try to keep the temperature warm - it works well with the college students," Christiansen said.
Johanson said Cava Java is different from most cafes because it offers live music and entertainment, and also because of the emphasis placed on employee training.
"We pride ourselves in training our employees," he said. "This is the busiest intersection in Ann Arbor - 3,000 people pass this intersection each hour. We try to serve each customer in less than 31/2 minutes."
"I mostly just come here between or after classes to study or meet friends over coffee," he said. "But sometimes it's hard to study because the music is too loud."
Yet it seems that just the right amount of background noise will distinguish the cafe from the library while still allowing time for studying.
"I like to study in the cafe just because it's not a silent, rigid atmosphere," LSA junior Kate Black said. "It's more conducive to studying than the library where if anybody walks by, it's abrupt."
LSA sophomore Liz Hoffman said she prefers Espresso Royale because of its adequate lighting and music, and also because she needs a little bit of noise in order to study.
"Sometimes libraries are so quiet that I can't concentrate," she said. "There's a bit of noise in the background here."
Mark Duchas, who prefers Cava Java because of its convenient location, said he goes to cafes to eat breakfast and do some light studying.
"I usually come between classes for a bagel and to eat my breakfast," he said. "I don't stay for that long - usually about an hour maximum."
"Business is going really well," said Dawn Vandepitte, general manager of Einstein Bros. Bagels, which opened in February. "We got the award (best new business in Ann Arbor from The Michigan Daily) about a month after we opened, which was great."
Vandepitte said most of Einstein Bros.' business is from students during the week and older people on weekends stopping in before or after church.
But Einstein Bros. bagels faces stiff competition from Bruegger's Bagels, just around the block.
"We always have hot bagels and our cream cheese is homemade," said Vicki Fertloth, a manager at Bruegger's. "People like to come here because our lines move faster and they like our cream cheese better."
University history Prof. Nicholas Steneck said the present wave of coffeehouses arrived with the Yuppies in the late '70s and early '80s.
"The students of the '60s and '70s seemed to drop out and spend a great deal of time in their common pads and group houses," Steneck said. "That is not to say that public hangouts disappeared, but they were not the center of action.
"As students return to mainstream campus life, start dressing up rather than dressing down, and become more prosperous, the coffeeshops catch on again - they become places to be seen," he said.
Steneck gives the reservedly confident reply of a historian when he talks about the future of coffeeshops.
"Will they last? Of course not. Student tastes and interests happily keep changing - otherwise life on this campus would be dull. What will come next? Your call."
But Johanson was more optimistic about the longevity of cafes."I think it can last - here for sure. The market may get saturated, but I don't think it's a fad."
Mary Shemanski, an employee at Amer's in the Michigan Union, said coffeeshops are well-suited to their environment.
"I think it will last because Ann Arbor is the kind of town where people like to sit and talk."
KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Daily
School of Social Work first-year graduate student Cathy Galgon studies at Caribou Coffee on South State Street yesterday afternoon. As coffee shops opened up in Ann Arbor, so did a new culture.