Edgewater/Andersonville - Tap Into Your Community

• Anthony Chacon

  NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! What is the point of “Swedish Pancakes” in Edgewater? Andersonville is supposed to be THE place for Swedish! The only other swedish place in Aville doesnt take debit/credit cards so I refuse to go there.

  • Christopher Martin

    No one should ever “refuse” to support a local business due to such a first-world-white-girl problem. I mean there’s practically an ATM on every corner, how hard can it possibly be to go to one of them? One complains about losing values in the community but refuses to support local business because they don’t accept debit cards?! Seriously?! The same people that complain about such minuscule problems are the people that have clearly never owned a business, have never been in the service/retail industry, or vote in local politics, and have obviously never been inconvenienced by having to feed actual coins to the parking meter.

• Anthony

  Oh boohoo. I think the lady doth protest too much?

  White girl problem? How about a modern Society in a metropolitan center? This is not the hills of Kentucky, the backwoods of Alaska or some hick town in the middle of texas. Even my Grandma accepts Paypal. Get real. This is 2013. Not 1955.

  Businesses that refuse to have a simple thing like credit/debit are stuck in the 1960s. I don’t buy the whole “we are a small business” excuse I hear often. Every food truck in the city I have ever been to, and I have been to just about every single one, accepts credit/debit cards and only do 2 hours of business a DAY 5 days a week at most.

  Foursquare is not so expensive that it will break a business from fees. Even traditional point of sales kiosk station wont hurt. If it is a huge problem then raise the prices 3%!

  Oh, AND Some of the very same “cash only” establishments in Andersonville also have Cash machines that charge a fee of $3-4 for access. Everyone knows that the house gets a cut of that fee. Putting the burden of payment for convenience on the customer is not GOOD customer service.

  I wonder how many of these cash only places put ALL the cash on the books? Sounds like someone might be skimming. With credit card records it would be easier to hide the true amount of gross.

  As for the “never had to put quarters in a meter”… well we can all thank Daley and LAZ for that one. It was more simple, and someone is running away to the bank with the unused minutes.

• Spugi di Savoia

  This is so odd. Why keep the restaurant on Belmont open when there’s so much crime… oh. Wait. He’s the alderman down there so I guess it wouldn’t look good closing the Belmont Ave restaurant. It just seems like Andersonville is THE hot location right now since the gays are starting to flee Boystown like rats. Even though I could walk to the restaurant on Granville, I won’t. Too many bullets flying around on Kenmore and Winthrop even during the day. I’d rather drive to Andersonville.

• Jon Krames

  A business can take debit cards and not pay a fee. They can sell more taking credit cards as well. They do it do avoid taxes.

  • Anthony Chacon

    Chicago corruption at work! Cash only establishments are shady. Having worked as a teenager in the food service industry bussing tables the servers readily admit that the best thing about getting CASH tips is only having to claim what they TELL the government about. That is the ONLY excuse I will “buy” about why a business, in 2013, would be cash only at this point.

• Guest

  Yeah, I actually prefer to avoid places that are cash only as well. It really isn’t even that much of a convenience issue either; I just like to use my credit cards for everything I possibly can as they all have great rewards that I like to cash in on. I’ve racked up so many rewards points, I don’t think I have paid full price for a single piece of furniture in my apartment – and I have redecorated the entire place within the past 2 years. I also have a heft tally of points on Amazon that I can cash in for pretty much any household item I need. So really, every place I visit that only takes cash is rewards points/money out of my pocket. If these were the only places to go, I’d cough up the cash. But since they’re not, I’d just as soon walk a block down the street to spend money without having to make a pit stop at the bank, without having to give up the cash in my wallet (I like to keep this handy for emergencies) and where I will get something back.
  That said, the aforementioned paragraph excludes Taste of Lebanon, which we all know is cash only and is so delicious and owned by such awesome guys that I will gladly give up my rewards to keep them afloat.

• Laura Louzader

  Ann Sathers has really gone downhill since the 80s, when it was a very popular and very good place. First, the beautiful old place on Belmont with its high ceilings and cheery fireplace was closed and replaced a space a few doors down that doesn’t have half the charm the old location did, a move that baffles me. Then, the hours were cut back to breakfast and lunch hours only, while it was open in the evenings in the 80s and early 90s. Now, the traditional Andersonville location closes. I honestly don’t think this business will be around 5 years from now.