Bumble’s going brick-and-mortar

Amid the war on brick-and-mortar, Bumble is bucking the trend.

Two years after experimenting with its first pop-up shop in Soho, the dating app is opening a permanent cafe in the same neighborhood. The space will be a coffee shop during the day and transition to a wine bar at night with small plates that won’t humiliate cafe-goers during dates or networking meetings — so no wings, no spaghetti and no sauce-drenched hamburgers.

The app, which is designed for women to take the lead, chose Soho to launch its first brick-and-mortar outpost because it claims New York is its largest (and most active) market. According to company data, 40 percent of its 60 million users reside in Manhattan, Bloomberg reported.

Hive, Bumble’s previous Soho pop-up, drew large crowds for its food and drink offerings as well as seminars directed toward women on subjects including health, technology and relationships. Bumble deemed it so successful that the pop-up was extended for several months.

Soho remains a desirable location for investors and retailers in spite of uncertainty due to the neighborhood’s complicated zoning. [Bloomberg]— Georgia Kromrei