Spinach World History - by Mark Westin
Once upon a time there was a department store in New York City.
This department store went by the name "Alexander's" and it took up the full block from Lexington to 3rd Avenue between 58th and 59th Streets just south of Bloomingdale's, the trendy department store that remains to this day.
Despite the luxe location, Alexander's was kind of a low-end store, and though it tried to compete it eventually went out of business. But even years after Alexander's had gone the building remained, standing empty, occupying a prime chunk of New York real estate.
Some years back in the 20th century, I had a (sleeping) dream that I owned a department store located on the former site of Alexander's. The store was called Spinach World, and sold only "spinach and spinach-related products".
What does that mean?
Well. the "spinach" part is self-explanatory. Spinach World's buyers scoured the globe in search of leafy greens and brought them back for sale in the store. And "spinach-related products" were simply those items that made the purchase of the spinach more enjoyable; for example, colanders and bowls (in which to wash and drain the spinach), spinach fettucine (to eat with the spinach), sauces and spices (to flavor the spinach), and cute spinach-motif plates (on which to serve the spinach). Utensils, hand towels, wallpaper; you get the idea. And of course, the Spinach Cafe for the lunching ladies. Yes. All of this detail was in my dream.
How, you ask, could such a highly specialized department store stay afloat? Simple. In New York City, there are always those levels of society that want the best, and have the money to pay for it. And nothing sells better to these folks than exclusivity. So...if this gigantic store, located in a very expensive neighborhood in the heart of the Big Apple, sells only spinach...why, it surely must be the finest spinach in the world!
And in my dream, the wealthy and powerful flocked to Spinach World and made it an enduring success.
I woke up laughing out loud, and promised myself then and there that if I ever started a company of any kind, it would be called Spinach World. And so it came to pass.
Mark Westin has released two albums of original music under his own name along with numerous band and guest credits, not to mention all those "cassette-only" and 7' vinyl 45 releases of yore.