This FAQ relates to operational changes being made at The VU starting in 2026. The questions are in no particular order and will likely grow in number throughout the weeks and months to come. If there are major changes to this FAQ, notifications will be made in our weekly newsletter and social media channels. If this FAQ fails to address a specific question you might have, please mention the phrase embedded in this FAQ to have individual inquiries addressed. Thanks.
When are these operational changes actually taking place?
The VU will be open with regular/existing hours through Sunday, December 21st, reopen with regular/existing hours from Friday, December 26th through Sunday, December 28th, and then close until Monday, January 5th with new operational days and hours. You will likely see things still being moved, removed, and rearranged in the first few weeks of reopening, but the final drinks will be served before 6 p.m. on Sunday, December 28th no matter what.
So what exactly are the changes being made in 2026?
The changes being made to The VU at the start of 2026 are as follows:
– Indefinite suspension of all cafe service (all made-to-order beverages, including coffees, teas, espresso drinks, mocktails, and anything else that would be considered a food service menu item)
– A change and expansion of operating hours from Wed-Sun 10 – 6 p.m. to 12 – 7 p.m. seven days a week (starting January 5th)
– A soft rebrand of the business that omits the word “cafe” and a hard rebrand of our coffee roasting operation
– A screening room makeover to potentially accommodate different events
What do you mean by “indefinitely?”
“Indefinitely” means that the cafe stuff is going away without an existing plan to bring any or all of it back at some point. If there was a known or plausible plan at present, the suspension would be referred to as “temporary,” which would be inaccurate at present. There is currently no plan, no means to execute a theoretical plan, and no path toward said plan or means. So it’s as hard a pause as can be imagined without a hard stop for now.
Does that mean it’s possible that some or all of what’s changing might … change back?
Possible? Yes. Likely? Definitely not. All of the necessary licenses and permits required to provide cafe service will be rolled into 2026, but mostly as coverage for the remaining coffee stuff we’re maintaining going forward. But leaving the door open just a crack is a choice that we’re actively making in case something crazy happens.
Ugh. So what’s staying the same?
Outside of the suspension of cafe service and the change in operating hours, most things are staying the same:
– Media library on a subscription model
– Coffee roasting with retail beans for sale and quantity accounts for restaurants, offices, etc.
– Weekly screening events for our media subscribers
– Our bottled cold brew concentrate program
– Snacks, bottled and canned beverages, and other treats
– Coffee catering orders (those cardboard boxes with awkward handles)
On top of these staple services remaining, we also hope to introduce some or all of the following down the road:
– Member-based screening room rental
– Film books and review compilations as part of our media subscription service
– Expanded retail offerings (more garments, drinkware, coffee and tea smallwares, etc.)
– Popcorn
– More options for snacks and canned/bottled beverages
– Coffee bean subscriptions
– Physical media for sale
– Packaged loose leaf tea from our tea drinks menu
– Expanded pre-order and special order physical media options
– A less stupid website and revamped social media presence
– Whatever else I think makes sense on any given day at any given time that might be, you know, cool
Would it be possible for the cafe stuff to come back in a different/second location?
I guess that’s at least theoretically possible, and in a sense it’s more likely than the cafe stuff coming back in our current location. On paper, it would look a lot more like starting a second business than just moving a third of an existing business. So it’s basically all of the current hurdles coupled with a bunch of unknown variables and would 100% require additional involvement from currently non-existing active business participants.
Would you ever consider teaming up with [insert local business here] and moving The VU cafe stuff there?
While there’s a version of this conversation that might be worth having, it’s probably more of an impossibility than you might think. Just about every other business with a specialty coffee operation in Jamaica Plain (i.e. espresso drinks, custom lattes, etc.) either insources their coffee program in its entirety or has an exclusive service deal with a coffee roaster (I assume under contract, although it might be more informal). For any of these businesses to switch gears (taking on The VU as either a vendor or operator) would require a significant service disruption and potential breach of contract. It’s almost certainly not worth it to them from a business standpoint, and having to deal with my crap probably isn’t worth whatever savings, efficiency, or convenience that might come with it. If, however, a new enterprise was taking shape in search of either coffee beans or a coffee program, that would be a different story. But even that seems unlikely given the nature of cafes at present.
Why is this all happening? And why now?
All of this is happening for three big reasons:
1). Our current assembly of equipment and the spaces in which they reside are already stretched past capacity. Being stretched past capacity (espresso machine is too small, fridge space too limited, three bay sink that looks like it belongs in a Barbie Dream House, etc.) makes growing the cafe operation all but impossible on a long enough timeline.
2). The other two main aspects of this business continue to grow while the cafe operation has functionally (mercifully?) plateaued.
3). Spending less time at the shop is more of a priority now than it ever has been for myriad personal and even professional reasons.
This almost happened a couple of times earlier this year, actually. I thought dropping baked goods and opening at 10 a.m. would likely crater the drinks program and lead to a late spring changeover. That didn’t happen. I also thought the drinks trade in the summer would be slow enough to make an early fall changeover likely. That also didn’t happen. So now seemed like as good a time as any with winter vacations and travel breaking up the end of December and start of January.
Is someone or something forcing you to do this?
Not at all. We are under no pressure from our landlord, the City of Boston, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the federal government (if that’s still a thing), the Galactic Federation, David Lo Pan, the JP chapter of the Gramercy Riffs, or any other individual or organization. Strictly our call all the way down the line.
Couldn’t you just hire people instead of shrinking the business? Upgrade equipment?
If it were that simple it would’ve happened already. The number of people required to give me the amount of time away from the shop I eventually want would be considerable. And by “considerable” I mean likely twice the number of people on payroll this business has ever had. Even if I were functionally just a GM, staffing and training baristas and retail staff to cover our existing hours (with built-in employee redundancy) would be a massive and expensive endeavor for such a small business. Additionally, the equipment upgrades necessary for growth on the cafe side would be considerable. There’s also no guarantee that growth potential would lead to growth realities, leaving us in a very precarious financial situation across the board. It just doesn’t make sense on paper.
But there will definitely be new hires eventually?
Yes, you will begin to see new people at the shop toward the end of January and the start of February with some random appearances for training and familiarity purposes in the meantime. But there will be retail hires (mostly for weekday afternoons and weekends) and possibly some off-floor help down the road. I’ve been in contact with a few people already about this, but we will post hiring notices if things fall through.
Is everything … okay?
Things are okay. Obviously a weird version of okay at present, but that’s to be expected. These changes are also part of a plan to make things even more okay, with an eventual goal of things progressing to extra okay as the year marches on. But, yeah, things are okay.
Is there anything we can do to help?
On a macro level, not really … ? This isn’t the ripcord pull it might look like from afar, and these changes were carefully considered and reconsidered prior to announcement. So there’s no forthcoming fundraiser or plea on the way. The amount of money and outside involvement it would take to reverse course is (for us) gigantic, and not even a consideration at the moment. On a micro level, I guess keep up your media subscriptions, buy some coffee beans, come to some screenings, grab some snacks, and swing by for a chat if you’re in the area. That’s about it.
Aren’t the cafe drinks how the store makes most of its money?
Most? No. A majority of monthly sales are fairly evenly split across coffee beans (both customer and commercial accounts), retail (including media subscriptions), and cafe beverages. Obviously the cafe side of things is a big piece of the financial puzzle on a week to week basis, but it’s also the side of things that requires the most time, upkeep, rolling costs, and general overhead. Most importantly, however, the drinks program is the least scalable aspect of what happens at the shop. A drastic or even steady increase in cafe sales would eventually hit a point of diminishing returns due to the limitations of our space and the gargantuan (for us, anyway) amount of money it would take to keep growing that aspect of the business. So while the cafe drinks are a major source of sales, they also have the potential to doom this whole thing down the road in a way the physical media and coffee roasting do not.
Where the heck are we supposed to get coffee now?
I don’t have a good answer for that. I’m not really buddies with any other neighborhood cafe operators (I know what I’m like), so there’s no friendcore recommendation I can make for what it’s worth. I would simply tell you to seek out consistency, value for money, and (most importantly) friendly service wherever you find it. No one offers what we offer at the prices we’ve always prioritized (and shouldn’t be expected to in reality), but you do have a variety of options throughout Jamaica Plain with quality drinks and experienced baristas, the vast majority of which are independently owned and operated. You should still feel good about patronizing neighborhood establishments both inside and outside JP and seek them out where you find them. But if all else fails, we’re also happy to chat you up about maybe upping you home brewing game in terms of beans and gear.
What if instead of getting rid of the cafe stuff, you got rid of …
Whoa, let me stop you right there. The idea that The VU would jettison either the coffee roasting operation or our physical media in lieu of scrapping our drinks program is nonsensical for several reasons. For starters, the cafe service is being suspended for the reasons already mentioned, not because something just had to go and this was the most convenient route. It’s just not sustainable right now. As far as roasting goes, nothing that happens at the shop is more scalable and reliably profitable than the coffee beans we sell to directly to customers, restaurants, and other quantity accounts. It’s been the low-key backbone of this whole thing for the better part of a year now, and eliminating it in the interest of maintaining and expanding the cafe offerings doesn’t make any sense. On the physical media side, this all started as a video store in 2002 on Centre Street. It will end as a video store at a time and place of my choosing. If this aspect of our operation doesn’t appeal to you, I completely understand. And if you think that selling off the media catalog to finance equipment upgrades, staffing, seating, or anything else you’d prefer to see instead of a galaxy of DVDs, Blu-rays, and 4Ks is the smarter path to take, I’m sorry you feel that way. But please know that every time someone comes in and says something to the effect of “do people actually still rent these things” that comment is offset by someone else coming in and saying something to the effect of “holy s***, this collection is amazing.” My resolve relating to maintaining and growing The VU as a video store, movie archive, and film culture hub is unbreakable, renewed daily, and actively cultivated by the most stubborn person you’ll ever meet.
What if this doesn’t, like … work?
This wouldn’t be happening in this way at this time if I thought it wouldn’t work. But if something weird happens or if things go sideways in a hurry, we’ll just continue to make adjustments as needed. None of this has a ring of ready-fire-aim to it from my vantage point, so I hope people can take some comfort in knowing that even if everything doesn’t go as anticipated right out of the gate, the long-term workability of this plan is solid.