Melissa Xides loves our gentrification

YouTube user Kyle Smeallie uploaded a video from Jack Spade’s hearing in front of the Board of Appeals where Melissa Xides, Vice President of Global Sales and Retail at Jack Spade, remarked not only that they fell in love with the gentrification of the Mission, but also the “uniqueness and character”, which they apparently now intend to help erode. Note the nice little remix at the end.

45 Responses to “Melissa Xides loves our gentrification”

  1. Huh? says:

    Get over it, bro.

    • Ariel Dovas says:

      That dude, posting under different names, who really loves formula retail and can’t stop proclaiming it and shushing its detractors . . .

      • Mazzy says:

        Jack Spade might make somewhat expensive items (bags clothes etc,) but they certainly are NOT formula retail. Is Blue Bottle, Four Barrel, Ritual formula retail? More coffee just different beans. One could make that argument too.

        • blah says:

          Besides which we’ve already got Walgreens, Best Buy, Bank of America, Chase Manhattan, Wells Fargo, Foot Locker, Starbucks, Peets, KFC, Burger King, McDonalds, T-Mobile, etc. The claim that “formula” stores don’t fit is just nonsense.

          • blah says:

            but as long as there’s nowhere to fucking park I guess we’ll still be “edgy.”

          • Ariel Dovas says:

            To have resistance to this business is not to celebrate every current business.

            They say that they love the uniqueness of the neighborhood, although all those businesses you mentioned exist here, none of them add to the uniqueness. These kinds of stores make this neighborhood like any other place. The pricing of these goods also bothers me because it shuts out a lot of people who have lived here for a long time. I’ve never shopped at Self Edge either.

    • Greg says:

      It’s all they have.

    • LilBeezy says:

      Totally agree. Get over it, SF. Your young, well-paid population is the target of almost every major company out there. You lose.

  2. MrEricSir says:

    Gotta love how someone with the title of “Vice President of Global Sales and Retail” wants us to think that Jack Spade isn’t a chain.

  3. Show with a Throw says:

    It’s not over. Let’s send them packing.

    • Old Mission Neighbor says:

      It’s over. It’s over.

    • Mazzy says:

      Hey its evolution. I’ve lived in the Mission for 23 year and in SF all of my longer life. Should I get pissed that all you hipsters moved it and changed it first?

      • Guy says:

        Kind of funny that no one responded to this yet.

        I’ve been here SIXTEEN months. I AM THE MISSION! Now, excuse me while I go purchase an authentic chimichanga.

  4. Missionite says:

    Oh brave new Mission with such people in it.

  5. Jamintime says:

    I hope they have that day sweater available at their opening.

  6. ALWAYS HIGH says:

    XIDES IS A ROBOTS NAME.

  7. flip burgus says:

    dear all business owners opposing jack spade,

    do you all actually believe that your customers aren’t the exact same people that are going to shop at jack spade?

    you are delusional if you don’t believe that… and wasn’t gentrification the exact reason you ended up in the mission? you didn’t open up in the tenderloin for cheap rents and you didn’t open your businesses in pacific heights where you really should have.

    as a longtime mission resident, i miss the original hipster kids of the mission that caused the buzz that made you all come here. the difference is they came to the mission, lived here and loved it the way it was…they didn’t feel the need to co-op to match there lifestyle, they just loved it…as-is.

    i am behind jack spade, not because i will shop there but the hypocrisy of this discussion is beyond belief. all you holier than tho douche bags…get over yourself.

    • layladylay says:

      AAAAAAMEN!

    • Mazzy says:

      Perfect. Im with you too.

    • red says:

      so true. who do you think buys those $1000++ bikes?

      naturally as business people, they are concerned about the inevitable rent increases. in sf, it’s easy to wrap such mundane issues in ‘fight the power’ hypocrisy.

      • scum says:

        Thank you Red, I have always found it funny listening to people that ride $1-3,000 bike complaining about people the drive $50-80,000 cars.

    • MrEricSir says:

      “do you all actually believe that your customers aren’t the exact same people that are going to shop at jack spade?”

      Amazing how in a single sentence, you confess to complete ignorance about all of the issues involved with allowing chain retail in the neighborhood.

      I mean, if you don’t care enough about the discussion people are having to understand what people are talking about and why, what’s the point of commenting on it?

      • SciLaw says:

        Really, folks eating at Farina, Mission Cheese, Delfina, Tartine’s won’t be going to Jack Spade? Shoppers at Bi-Rite? Namu Ganji is pricey, Tacolicious is ridiculous. Who is the one being deliberately obtuse?

        • troll says:

          Do people living here really go to all of those places? I sure as fuck don’t.

        • MrEricSir says:

          “Really, folks eating at Farina, Mission Cheese, Delfina, Tartine’s won’t be going to Jack Spade? Shoppers at Bi-Rite? Namu Ganji is pricey, Tacolicious is ridiculous. Who is the one being deliberately obtuse?”

          WTF are you even blathering about, and why? Please stay on topic or STFU.

        • UnkieD says:

          I don’t eat at any of those restaurants because I can’t afford to. Shopping at Bi-Rite is considered a treat in my house. I also don’t have a 3000 bike, because my $200 dollar one works just fine. The problem I have with Jack Spade is 1) The bigger problem that they got away with eschewing several rules by throwing money at it (which I know happens all the time but jesus, at least don’t do it RIGHT in front of our faces. 2) The the small business I manage is increasingly at threat of not being able to survive because of these big money guys coming in and driving up the rents… %200 in 6 months is becoming normal. Im talking about the business’s you guys seem to really like, The 500 Club, Dog Ear, Kilowatt, etc. I am just using those names as examples and do not know at all what their deals are with their landlords, but I will assume they aren’t that far off from mine or other places. Progress happens and change is good, let’s just be mindful at what cost. And lets also remember that the income gap is huge in the Mission and only getting bigger. I used to make more than enough to get by here and by “used to” i mean only a few years ago. Now, not so much. Same job, same apartment, different neighborhood.

  8. Mazzy says:

    “The pricing of these goods also bothers me because it shuts out a lot of people who have lived here for a long time”

    HUH?

    So the 12 plus cocktails, the high priced dinners, haircuts and other furniture and clothing stores (you now that denim shop?) are so different? Thera re so many cheap spots still on Mission St and the side streets. Jack Spade items are expensive but very well made. You gan get a $10. back pack at any one of a dozen “import” shops on Mission street. And there is always the $40K and up Audis on South Van Ness…

    • Ariel Dovas says:

      I know you’re hearing what you want to hear, but again “To have resistance to this business is not to celebrate every current business.”

      You’ve been here for two years longer than I have, you’re really gonna tell me that you don’t agree that the Mission has been progressively becoming more and more for wealthy people and less and less for everyone else?

      • Mazzy says:

        If you are referring to me, I have been in the Mission for 23 years and lived my entire 59 years here. It has gotten too expensive . The same as almost every other neighborhood here. My point is things change and businesses move in that people seem to want. Why not dollar coffee rather than of $4 a cup coffee that is offered. The more expenses cafes are more crowded than the cheaper ones.. The new cafes are packed and doing great business. I actually have a great shoulder bag made by Jack Spade. It cost about $160. but is well made and strong. Sure I can buy something for $20 or 30 every year but I choose quality and I rather buy local and have the city get the taxes then order online from New York. An remember for the rich techies there were the hipsters, and before that the punks (in the 80s) and during this time the Lain community and in the 50s and earlier the Irish. The Fillmore used to be a Jewish neighborhood Everything changes. But I agree its becoming much more expense.. Detroit is cheap now check it out.

  9. someJuan says:

    This has me doing a quadruple take.

    http://youtu.be/XFMrBldVk0s?t=2m2s

  10. flip burgus says:

    again, if you think the businesses spearheading the smear campaign against jack spade actually care about working people or anyone other than the new facebook/google crowd you are in denial.

    its because they like their neighborhood just gentrifiiiiiiied enough, but not too much.

    any new or existing businesses that opens in the mission and directly serves the new residents with “disposable income” is equally to blame for creating and supporting gentrification of the mission.

    i wonder how many people in a week walk into mission bikes throw down there credit card and leave with a bike,helmet,lock, hat and outfit without blinking at the total.

    congratulations mission bikes! > you fucking bottled fixie culture..literally snake oil salesman because in the end the people riding away are still not part of a scene, just watering down the real scene.

    like i have said before if jack spade opens and fails, it will be because it has been labelled uncool ironically…. by the uncoolest people in the mission.

    so owners etc…shut up, quit complaining and spend your money locally and heaven forbid support a charity that helps the underserved on the mission.

  11. mazzy says:

    Some her have said that a shop like Jack Spade changes the uniqueness of the neighborhood I disagree. They started out as a small business and then grew. Delfina was one small eatery that took a risk many years ago and their investment paid off. Now they have 5 spots. Same with several of the coffee places. Rituals, Four Barrel. I would agree of it were yet another Walgreens or CVS. But do you find the many Mission Street “import” shops adding to the uniqueness of the neighborhood. Cheap Asian knockoffs?
    There really are NOT many clothing shops around the Valencia corridor are there? We have our fill of bike shops, cafes, taco joints and bars so what’s left?. There are a few book stores but their problems has nothing to do about being pushed out. Nobody buys physical books or if they do, they shop Amazon. Same goes for records stores. Most landlords will up the rent when a lease expires. No different anywhere but there are some who see the value in a good tenant and will work with them. Maybe I’m part of the problem too? I’m a a native who bought my home in the Inner Mission in 1991. It was sketch with drug deals on every corner and condoms in front of my house every morning. I guess I contributed to gentrification but I raised my son here and love the hood. But now I too will probably cash out and move to Seattle and buy a house there for 1/3 of what my profit will be. I lived in what they now call NOPA in the 80s before that changed, the Inner Mission in the 90s an 00s and now its time to move on. I remember when you could live in Manhattan cheap. No more… But don’t blame Jack Spade for all of this.

  12. truth says:

    what’s the over/under that all these opinionated new blog commenters with such a passion for corporate retail are actually just one Jack Spade shill?

    • Mazzy says:

      Uh No! But I have owned my own small business for over 25 years. Lived in the mission for most of that time too and I support good businesses who invest in our neighborhoods. Don’t dump on Jack Spade. They have about 10 stores in the US. Blue Bottle has 11. Delfina has 5. Self Edge has 4. All are quality operations with good food or products. All invest in their employees and pay taxes to the city.

      But yes one who argue about $4. coffee. $200. shoulder bags, #75. pairs of jeans and so on. But the mission still has cheap cheap burritos (maybe 25 or more taco joints) and cheap import stores every 75 or so feet up and down Mission Street and several Mobile Phone Chain stores. So what!

  13. flip burgus says:

    @ truth

    shills?

    whats the over/under that you have zero comprehension of most matters that surround you in your everyday life.

    well….add one more.

  14. JohnnyL says:

    i love this thread…

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