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Comment by boondaburrah | Hacker News Reader

This has definitely been a problem long before last year. Heck, in 2018 Harvard Square lost a great cafe everyone liked that had been there for years because a landlord firm off in North Carolina figured they could charge triple the rent if they brought a VC-backed NYC chain restaurant in.

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All the while the long standing institutions that make Harvard Square what it is continue to shut down, only to be replaced by bank branches and national chains. This isn't really a new development, it's been happening since at least the 1980s, but has become much more apparent in the last 15 years.

The joke is several bank branches are starting to close in NYC because rent is too high. Hah.

If a new tenant can afford triple the rent then they are (at least) 3x as productive. Why do you want to reward less productive businesses? Do you also enjoy working with coworkers who are have 1/3rd the productivity you?

Because lots of less productive businesses still provide excellent products or services. I can think of lots of local restaurants, bookstores and cafes near me that are less productive than McDonalds, Barnes & Noble and Starbucks, but non the less have better food, curation or coffee than their competitors.

Many of the common reasons that make companies able to pay more rent do not align well with preferences of locals. They could have higher prices, pay employees less, use lower quality ingredients, give less personal attention or externalize costs through say noise pollution. They also often have competitive advantages through brand recognition or company support, that don't actually increase quality

That's simply not true.

VC funding distorts this, since at that point what you can afford is no longer based on productivity, but how good you are at convincing investors. As a customer of the cafe, you're no longer serving my interests at that point since that has nothing to do with my experience.

Also, I would like to reward the service-oriented business that provide me the most enjoyment regardless of their 'productivity,' or, to put it another way, my (as a customer) enjoyment is exactly the 'productivity' that should be measured, not how much rent they pay.

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