Downtown Holland Case Study

Downtown Holland is home to many “mom and pop” type stores. Dozens of non brand name businesses line eight and ninth street, ranging anywhere from boutiques, to jewelry stores, to coffee shops. Two coffee shops in particular, JPs and Lemonjellos, act as the primary substitute for the lack of a Starbucks near Hopes campus, and both compete for Hope students, and a large majority of Hollands loyalty.
Lemonjello’s coffee is located on the corner of Ninth street and College ave, and actually within eye sight of my third floor Durfee dorm. This location makes it very accessible to Hope students as it is the fist available coffee shop from campus. However, to all the busy shoppers and tourists who frequent downtown, it is almost unknown because it is not on the “main drag”, which essentially means its not on Eight Street.Upon entering “LJs” ,with my comrade Joshua Combs, I was immediately taken aback by how small it was. A single room with very limited seating made for a tight squeeze as I sipped on my strawberry smoothie and recalled the events of that day with Josh, mainly how basketball tryouts went for both of us. …show more content…
Most of the people in there were in their younger twenties and most were Hope students. The brightly, and differently, colored walls as well as the unique artwork that lines them is an accurate reflection of their youthful customers. Also, the advertisements for local music groups and events taped to the doors only furthers this point. One can tell that is it an extremely popular place for students to go and study and just hang out. The mood of LJs is, as the kids say, chill. The place is ran by other students/young people so there is no need to worry about what to wear to LJs; no expectations or judging, just other college kids trying to get their caffeine fix before pulling an all