He speaks about how he has seen a lot of artists, owners and professionals in the scene, unfortunately, have to leave it in order to find more stable prospects. Mutiny provided a haven for Denverites to feel like they were connected to their city when people needed it the most.įor all the catastrophe that has been unleashed in the last year and a half on the local arts and culture community of Denver, Megyesi has also optimistically seen what positive change can come from it all. People wanted a taste of their community more than ever before, as they yearned to feel like they were a part of it once again. This is what Megysei witnessed firsthand as patrons of Mutiny came in more and more to buy their locally sourced, or locally supporting, products. However, what was observed was a greater desire from folks to seek support from their local communities and scale down their worries and problems. In a time where all of humanity was facing the same threat, it is easy to think that people would have looked for comfort in the unifying of the masses across the globe. The store went from being a supplier of fun pastimes before the pandemic to practically a necessary business supplying the community with entertainment to keep them sane. Mutiny had all the fixings for lovers of reading, music and culture as everyone suddenly had ample time on their hands to catch up on their reading list and listen to those records that had been collecting dust. These were the fun breaks from boredom and dread that got people through all those months stuck indoors. Through all the hardship, Megyesi and Norris realized that they were sitting on a proverbial gold mine of things that people needed the most during the pandemic.
Mutiny Information Cafe was even able to commission new murals to be painted on the sides of the boarded-up storefront and pay the artists who created them. The store opened up a small section for subscribers to come in and pick up their weekly comics and slowly were able to bring their staff back in through a PPP loan. This enabled Mutiny to reach the next stepping stone to stability when the comic book industry started to rev back up. The box was a hit, and sales of it to Denverites picking up their coffee was what kept the store alive. So let’s make a booty box,” recalls Megysei. “We were like, we have all these books by local authors, records by local musicians, coffee, stickers, zines and patches. Then, the idea quickly came along to do what Mutiny does best, which was to combine them all. Sales built up enough to allow them the financial foothold to start thinking about what to do with all their books, vinyl, oddities and newly branded coffee. First, they started by reopening their coffee shop and sold beverages through a small port out of a street-facing window. Their solution came in the form of ingenuity and working with what they had.
#MUTINY CAFE HOW TO#
Necessity was the mother of invention for Megyesi and co-owner Jim Norris, who had to figure out how to keep their store of diverse offerings alive in the most trying of times.
Then the lockdown started and it was time to sink or swim. Nor could they have done so, as the reality of life under a global threat was coming to fruition in the minds of all. Where other local stores could renegotiate contracts with their landlords or had money saved up from the holidays, Mutiny was not in a financial position at the start of the pandemic to keep running their business as usual. “The first thing that hits you is the cold fear,” remarked Mutiny co-owner Matt Megyesi when describing what it was like to be at the helm of a local business in an impending pandemic. At the height of lockdown, this pillar of Denver culture nearly lost it all. For all the reward Mutiny can reap now, they first had to survive what was one of the most treacherous years the store, and all of humanity, has had to face.
One of the local businesses that has seen this the most is Mutiny Information Cafe, which is one of the city’s most dedicated suppliers of everything local. A taste of normalcy has been brought upon the city as collectors of vinyl, books and comics return back to shop at the stores that they love. In the wake of another year’s Record Store Day, there has been a collective rejoicing in the Denver community.
0 kommentar(er)
