There's been a lot of talking and tweeting today about yesterday's blog post on the return of Counter Culture, this time, we've heard, to a prime location on Mill Avenue. Andres Yuhnke, co-founder of Counter Culture, told Chow Bella earlier this week that his business was a lock to reemerge on Mill.
While Yuhnke and his business partners are participants in the Mill Avenue Retail Competition, a contest designed to boost business on the sadly all-but-deserted stretch of downtown Tempe, and said that they are definitely headed to downtown Tempe, the Downtown Tempe Community, Inc cried foul at the implication that Yuhnke and Co. won their contest.
While not denying that Counter Culture won the grand prize, the DTC tweeted today that Counter Culture has not been officially announced as the winner.
The contest, focused on luring independent businesses back to Mill Avenue, asked aspiring entrepreneurs to submit a business plan for review by a committee assembled from the ranks of DTC, DMB Commerical Management, and the City of Tempe among others. The grand prize: one year in a Mill Avenue property rent-free and a custom-built Web site by Synapse Studios.
An afternoon call to DTC's Cassandra Brown did confirm today's meeting on Mill with the Counter Culture partnership (Mitchell Hillman, Andres Yuhnke, Mony Yunke, and Brad Wallace), but she declined to discuss any details, especially with regard to winners of the Mill Avenue Retail Contest. She said a public announcement regarding winners is targeted for the first week of August.