GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Grand Rapids is growing -- not just in population, but reputation. A recent study by a moving logistics company ranked Grand Rapids the 28th most "hipster city" in the world.
MoveHub studied 446 cities from 20 different countries. The study used five data points to decide the rankings: number of vegan eateries, record stores, coffee shops, tattoo parlors and vintage boutiques per 100,000 residents.
Grand Rapids ranking highly on the list makes sense, said Duncan McCargar a local bartender.
"[There are] tons of niche little coffee shops and leather goods stores," McCargar said. "And then we've got a massive influx of young people. The [people in their] 20s, early-30s, that's sort of the quintessential hipster generation."
MoveHub weighted the data to score each city out of 10 on the hipster scale. Grand Rapids scored a 5.9221. Brighton and Hove, a city in South East England, edged out Portland for the most hipster city with a score of 8.1632.
Sometimes hipster is used with a negative connotation, said Benjamin Hoffmeister, a Grand Rapids native.
"[They're seen as] trying to be cooler than [they] actually are or something that [they're] not," Hoffmeister said.
The term hipster is not inclusive, said Susan Walbron, owner of Yours Truly Galleria in Grand Rapids' East Hills neighborhood.
"I know that our neighborhood is associated as being a hipster community, but what I associate with that is a lot of gentrification," Walbron said.
People considered hipsters often get judged for their lifestyles, said Rosemary Vallis, a graduate of Grand Valley State University.
"Younger people who aren't hipsters think that they're lame and like to like things and not actually like things because they're interested in them," Vallis said. "And I think hipsters just want to have new ideas and different takes on things."
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