A coffee house out of sight but not out of mind.
WE GOT A PROBLEM
Great coffee, great feeling, challenging location.
A year and a half after the opening of The Blind Dandies, a modern barbershop slash a hub for urban aesthetics (named by your's truly), the founder decided to materialize another part of his vision.
Wanting to strengthen the sense of community that TBD had manage to build, he imagined a space were people could rest before or after their haircut, interact with each other, bring their friends and expose more people to The Blind Dandies' style.
And then luck stroke.
A bistrot across the alley got relocated so there was a vacancy -already set up to be a coffeehouse- 6 meters away from The Blind Dandies barbershop!
Along with his two partners, a chef and a business consultant, they decided to grasp the opportunity, despite a minor defect...
...the place was practically invisible!
A coffee house needs all the traffic it can get in order to survive, but the vacancy was set in an alley with no front exposure to the crowded with pedestrians main street.
The guys believed in the power of the community and went for it anyways.
LET'S SOLVE THIS
THE BLINDSPOT [an area where a person's view is obstructed] was a two in one solution.
To begin with, it highlights the connection with the mother brand. The dominant word "blind" exists in both names, and the "the" in the beginning gives out a sense of ecosystem once you see the two signs across the street.
But most of all The Blindspot turns a negative situation into a positive one by embracing it. The audience gets a sense of honesty and of "not taking yourself too seriously" which translates into coolness.
And a cool spot it is.
PS One of the craziest moments working in this project was when we were asked to name the items in the menu. Instead of coming up with a number of names and presenting it to the owners, we decided to set up a brainstorming workshop with the whole stuff of the store.
After a few minutes the place was buzzing with ideas and we could not be prouder of the (surreal) results.