Bob’s Pizza in Vineyard Haven, MA
About a quarter of the way down Main Street in Vineyard Haven, MA there is a small pizza shop called Bob’s Pizza. Bob’s has been in the same spot since 1990 and has been serving some of the best pizza in town since then. Growing up in Vineyard Haven I was able to watch the transformation that Bob’s took in the thirteen years I lived there. One thing that I noticed and stuck out in my mind was the constant change in ownership. Every summer when the busy season was approaching I always noticed new staff working behind the counters and making the pizza’s in the back. From what I learned living on Martha’s Vineyard, was that having such a short peak season was hard for owners to maintain the shop. One of the factors that might affect the struggle for Bob’s to stay under the same ownership was the Candy and Ice Cream shop next to it. Commercially you would think that pizza and ice cream together is a traditional American lunch, however as the town has progressively become a vacation destination, many times people are more likely to spend more money on their vacations and grab a nicer sit down lunch at the various restaurants in town. It’s interesting to see that in the summer the ethnic and socioeconomic status of the majority of the customers happens to be the tourists (being upper class people from big cities like Boston, New York, New Jersey etc..) spending their summer vacations on the island. However, when I was there this Thanksgiving I noticed a couple things: first there were very few customers eating at Bob’s. Second, all of the people there seemed to be local minorities who live year round on the island. I actually happen to run into someone I knew growing up and they told me “I love eating at Bob’s, it’s a quick and easy meal that I enjoy after a hard days work.” This proves the point that Bob’s isn’t exactly an authentic and one of a kind experience, its just average.
That being said, the location of Bob’s Pizza is priceless, right off Main Street and not to far from the ferry where thousands of people travel on everyday. Bob’s uses its social space very well; they have about ten to twenty picnic tables right out front of their store which gives shoppers a place to sit in the shade and enjoy some pizza and ice cream. Recently the owner of Bob’s bought out the rights to the candy store so now the entire plaza area is under the same ownership, which makes for better profits and sustainable economic growth. In terms of the residential environment, Bob’s doesn’t really have much of an effect on the landscape, basically the entirety of Main Street is shops and restaurants so Bob’s blends in with the rest.
Jordy Abrams ’17