Southdown Coffee, Huntington, New York

Whether you are in a local suburb in New York, Massachusetts, perhaps even on the west coast there is an organic connection between globalization and migration. This past Thanksgiving break I stopped by one of my favorite hometown shops, Southdown Coffee. Southdown Coffee was started a couple years ago and lies in the village of Lloyd Harbor, which is located inside the town of Huntington, New York. The north coast of Long Island has many times been referred to as the “gold coast” and is a prospering area to start a business. Huntington has a fairly high median house value of $555,098, while the rest of New York’s median is $277,600. In the Southdown area, there are other stores such as Southdown Pizza, Southdown Cleaners, and the most popular along the commercial strip: Southdown Market. Southdown Coffee epitomizes the social importance of a small business. Every time I enter the shop, I am greeted with joy, and the manager Chelsea is constantly on top of her staff and the shop. After a chat with Kim, one of the employees at Southdown Coffee, she explained how well the business was doing. Not only does the shop serve as a convenient store for refreshments, it also doubles as a social environment for the residents in the town of Huntington. Having read the chapter on Amsterdam in Global Cities, Local Streets and revisited Southdown Coffee, I have learned a lot about both the commercial and social functions of local coffee shops.

Riley Cassidy ’18