Academic

In March of this year, the NY Times did story on a local coffee shop in Brooklyn whose food and beverage operation was shut down by the health department because of $29,000 in unpaid fines.  At that time, the shop also was three months behind on its rent, its telephone was disconnected, and it was unable to pay some of its employees.   However, the coffee shop apparently was a local favorite, and a critical part of the neighborhood?s revitalization.  Called Vox Pop, short for ?Voice of the People? in Latin, with the slogan ?Books, Coffee, Democracy,? Vox Pop was a debate parlor, performance space, coffee shop and book store rolled in one.  And what one its founders called, an ?anti-Starbucks.?  Yet Vox Pop was clearly in financial distress, and strugging to stay afloat.  Today, CNN ran a kind of follow-up on Vox Pop, with a happy ending. 

To be sure, the company is still in financial distress--$190,000 in debt and behind on rent, taxes and fines.  However, instead of shutting its doors or declaring bankruptcy, Vox Pop offered stock to its customers for $50 a share and managed to raise $64,000 in ten days from nearly 200 people in the community.  As the CNN story notes, investors do not expect a profit anytime soon, but they are pleased with their investment.  What CNN called ?communal capitalism,? demonstrates that even in this difficult economy and with no clear profit potential, people are willing to invest in entities about which they care and in entities that they believe will have a positive impact on their community.  A heartening story about the community and capitalism.