Business Hitting Rock Bottom? Maybe You Should Go Topless

It might be surprising to hear any kind of business doing well these days, but apparently an entrepreneur in Vassalboro, Maine, found a way to open a coffee shop that's getting more and more popular by the day. Its specialties? Coffee and (partial...) nudity.

Donald Crabtree, a resident of the small Maine town, recently opened Grand View Topless Coffee Shop, where waiters and waitresses serve you your coffee, well, topless. Controversial as it may seem, it pretty rakes them in. After all, it's hard to turn down a “dinner and a show.” (Heh.)

Crabtree apparently knew that opening a new run-of-the-mill coffee shop in a small town in the middle of today's cold economic climate was crazy. That's why he decided to throw a little something into the mix – something that would really keep the customers coming. (Okay, I think I'm unintentionally stepping on naughty jokes today...)

Naturally, many residents of the small town were up in arms over the whole thing when they first heard about it. I've no doubt a lot of people are pushing for the closing of the new topless cafe, but there's apparently little they can do – city authorities seem to have found that Crabtree's idea followed the law to the letter. Until people get tired of the “grand view” (Crabtree didn't hire supermodel-quality waiters and waitresses), the cafe's probably going to stick around a while. (Argh, there I go again...)

Wait, I got a few more from the blogosphere...

    - “Here's your coffee, sir. One lump or two?”

    - (Insert lame joke about cup size here)

    -“I guess coffee isn't the most stimulating thing in here.”


The topic's probably worth a few laughs for now, but I tend to wonder what's going to happen if topless coffee shops start popping up all over the world. It's not like nudity's that hard to find these day – at least for anyone who knows how to use Google – but to be subjected to it every morning before work? Someone's going to get killed!

Yeah, I know this topic is hardly tech/media (i.e. what I would usually write about), but I thought we all needed something to laugh about. I doubt Grand View is going to last too long after the initial hype (maybe until they remove the “no cameras, no touching” rule), but at least it's enough to put a grin on our faces. And yes... I am grinning right now. Shut up.

When other fun stories make it to the grapevine anytime soon, trust Chris Gomez to keep you abreast of the news. (D'oh!)