I love renovation shows, and this is a good one! This is like Kitchen Nightmares/Bar Rescue without the gross-out factor or any of the conflict. The businesses aren't *failing*, per se, just not living up to their fullest potential. The hosts are fun and engaging, the projects are creative, and the finished products are GORGEOUS.
Those two reviews criticizing specific episodes... I have to assume they just wanted to hate this show. The bookstore had a THOUSAND SQUARE FEET of unused space, in NEW YORK CITY. My god, that's almost literally burning money. They didn't remove any book capacity whatsoever. I'm a book lover AND a bar lover, and a place like that would absolutely attract me if I were in the neighborhood. I also found it interesting how they decided to remove the ubiquitous plug capacity all over the store to prevent free-loading. A way of making the space LESS comfortable, but in order to produce more sales. It's interesting to see how they subtly manipulate customers to spend money through the very walls, isn't it?
And as for the ATM in the salon. Bud, you've clearly never had a haircut anywhere but Super Cuts. Many places can't accept tips on credit cards, so it's expected that you'll have cash ON TOP of what you pay for your service. My salon now has a little book of all their stylists' Venmo QR codes so you can tip that way, but a lot of salons will still opt to offer old-fashioned cash.
Erik is adorable and Chrissy looks EXACTLY like a redheaded version of Kate McKinnon from SNL. So that's kinda fun and uncanny.
