often asked questions about eat.shop
how do you choose the businesses that are featured?
first and foremost, the business must be locally owned and not part of a chain. then we look for places that really stand out. instead of the “everything and the kitchen sink” approach, we edit down to the gems that you would happily drive across town in rush hour traffic to get to, whether they be new and swanky or funky and well worn. places that we look for are beautifully and / or uniquely presented with food and/or merchandise that won’t be found on every street corner. we look for places where we can feel the owners passionate committment to what they do, as opposed to a place that was opened because of a half-baked business plan.
do you guys do reviews?
if we feature a business in the book, it means we love it. so our blurbs tend to be more experiential travelogues, instead of reviews or criticisms.
can i pay you to be in the book?
even though we’re really fond of money, we won’t be accepting the dosh. the moment that money gets exchanged for the written word, baddddd things happen.
how often do you publish new editions and should i chuck my old edition? and if a business doesn’t make it into all the editions does it mean you don’t like it anymore?
new editions come out every two years. because we only feature 85 or so businesses in a book (130 in nyc), and each new edition features over 80% businesses new to the book—you’ll absolutely want to hang on to previous editions so you’ll have the entire volume for that city. though some businesses are repeated because they are just too imperative to leave out, the businesses that aren’t featured for a second go round are all still fantastic.
how can i find the older editions?
though the older editions don’t appear in our shopping cart, if you would like to purchase previous editions, you can for $5 a book. email megan@eatshopguides.com to order. also, we will soon offer all of the previous editions in online e-book form via this website. stay tuned.
i would love to be an author, are you accepting resumes?
though right now the eat.shop gang is fully staffed, who knows what the future holds. eat.shop authors are well-traveled folk who not only write with their own distinctive and witty voice, but also know their way around a digital slr camera. and most importantly they must subscribe to the eat.shop aesthetic.
what happens when a business in the book closes, do you reprint immediately?
when one of the businesses featured in a book closes, it—in the most eloquent way it can be stated–sucks. and with the cruddy recession we find ourselves in, there’s no doubt more will follow. do we pull all of the books off the bookshelf when this happens? nope, because there’s dozens more businesses in that book that are open and ready for you to visit. so how do we let you know a place is closed? we will note it here on the website on the city page. also if a business moves, we will note here the new address.
how do you choose the covet / imbibe / devours and what happens if they are no longer stocked?
here’s the skinny: these items were picked because they are things we desired and/or really stood out as something that define the style of the business. because we are in production on the books six months before they are released, sometimes these items are no longer available because of seasonality or any number of different reasons. we apologize for any heartbreak caused by this!
if you have any questions or inquiries about this long diatribe of blah blah, go to the contacts page. all worthwhile names, emails, phone numbers, social security numbers and blood types are listed.