Fashion

UO Herald Square Sells Coffee

by Erin Mayer

If you keep up with fashion news, chances are you have trouble hitting up Urban Outfitters with a totally clear conscience. However, I have some news that might make you excited about the hipster emporium once again. Urban just opened up a huge location in Herald Square and guess what? The boutique has an Intelligentsia coffee bar. You can now get so hopped up on caffeine that you black out and emerge from Urban Outfitters 45 minutes later having purchased six tent-shaped cropped tops and the entire inventory of flower crowns. Count me in.

Coffee news website Sprudge notes that Intelligentsia has it's own street-facing entrance on Broadway, with an interior garage door that opens up to allow Urban Outfitter customers to flow freely between retail space and coffee shop. The space is decorated with a large marble standing bar and a number of brass and leather bar stools "lined up against a vintage-style wall of windows evoking a sort of ’40s railway station vibe." Sounds like a monocle-wearing hipster's paradise smack in the center of Midtown.

The new Intelligentsia store features high-tech coffee equipment such as the LaMarzocco Linea PB espresso machine (don't worry, I have no idea what those words mean either) and a Modbar steam module (I'd guess that's for steaming milk). The cafe has also integrated with Urban Outfitters food program (just go with it), a broad menu of takeaway sandwiches and salads designed by David Bowen, UO's director of service. Who says Urban isn't a lifestyle brand?

This sounds like a genius partnership idea if you ask me. Coffee and fashion go together like peanut butter and chocolate or a bagel with cream cheese. Coffee is stylish and trendy and suppresses your appetite (but for the love of god, don't drink it for that reason), just like Urban. A match made in chic Millennial heaven. And who knows? Maybe this will encourage the youngs to flock to Herald Square during rush hour. Just kidding, that will literally never happen.

Image: @urbanoutfitters/Instagram