Is Your Independent Local Coffee Shop Really a Starbucks?

Time for a list? (4.00 / 4)

Heh, let's take note of every time one of these opens anywhere...

Database!

Seriously, that sucks.  If these spread further, I wonder if it would be able to catch them by the bags of coffee for sale or behind the counter.  Do they leave them out there?  Or would they even put the coffee in new bags or sacks?  I've never been to a Starbucks, lol.  I don't know how they look either way!  

Which isn't to say I've never drank bad coffee, I used to go to Dunkin' Donuts all the time, mainly because there was mostly nothing else to drink throughout Jersey.  Funny story - I had a cup of their coffee last time I was back in Jersey, after not having had any for almost 2 years.  Stuff tasted like a cup of chemicals.  Blechhh...

I miss 'Rocky Hill By The Cup', though.  Little coffee shop down Princeton way.  Washington Street in tiny Rocky Hill's "downtown".  Used to stop there two or three times a week for work.  They were great!

But back on topic.

Now I'm all suspicious and shit.  I wonder if, like, Dick Cheney or WalMart owns the coffee shop across the street from me?  Who knows these days?!

Heh, no I'm kidding.  I know who owns it. :)

Will we see big boxes pose as Mom & Pop's next?  That would be interesting.  

Fast food chains open up food carts downtown?  Oh, whoops...

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 12:48:31 PM CDT

Saw this over at Alternet the other day (4.00 / 4)

"This" being the headline article. Wasn't sure whether to LMAO or just cry.

Buy Fair Trade coffee. Make it at home. Fill a thermos. Way better for the Planet.

whoops... is right. Why not cut out all the overhead and just sell apples on the street corner like during the last Great Depression?

Yankee Frugality: use it up, wear it out, make it last, or do without.

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by: Anonymous Bosch @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 13:46:05 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

whoops indeed. (4.00 / 3)

Does Portland have espresso shops on wheels?

I don't know how extensive the Starbucks local-branding ploy will become, but I can see why they would try it in Seattle. Portland, OR; Seattle; and Vancouver, B.C. have many shops owned by entrepeneurs who are passionately committed, not only to quality products, but also to sustainability and fair dealing with everybody in the farm-to-consumer chain. With them as the standard of excellence, Starbucks always will be known as second class in those cities.

Dunkin' Donuts in Jersey - I know someone from Freehold, for whom DD is the standard of excellence. She drinks nothing but DD when she visits Baltimore. Fortunately for her, DD is widely available.

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by: count @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 15:23:25 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

This won't be a problem for long (4.00 / 3)

Word will get out quickly about the Starbucks in sheeps' clothing. Do you think there's anyone in Seattle by now who doesn't know that 15th Avenue Coffee & Tea isn't a Stealthbucks?

I have succumbed to the Twitter craze. @Omir55

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by: Omir the Storyteller @ Sat Aug 15, 2009 at 20:08:55 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Let's hope not! (4.00 / 1)

But gack, even one person (Seattleite or not) being fooled would be too many.

This kinda thing should be illegal, I'm serious...

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Sun Aug 16, 2009 at 01:22:37 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Unfortunately (4.00 / 2)

Starbucks isn't the first to do something like this. Companies rebrand themselves, and start up subsidiaries all the time.

Regarding locavores as elitists - explain to me how supporting local business is elitist....

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by: Joanne Rigutto @ Sun Aug 16, 2009 at 20:34:59 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Yeah, but... (0.00 / 0)

The equivalent to this, in this case, would be kinda like Bud (InBev, or whatever) or Coors opening up a brewpub named like "Belmont St. Brewing" in SE Portland, and serving Bud as "Belmont Lager", and etc...

Or Gap making jeans under some phony name and trying to sell them at Saturday Market.

That's why I think this situation is particularly galling.

"Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization." - Eugene V. Debs

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 17, 2009 at 13:28:10 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Tempest in a teapot? (0.00 / 0)

Being a resident of Seattle, $tarbuck$ is local. I can walk up to the local $tarbuck$, grab a cup of coffee and chat with the baristas with whom I have developed an informal relationship and enjoy the coffee. I have seen the new "15th Avenue Coffee & Tea" and there is no mistaking it for anything other than a corporate shop - too slick. I enjoy having choices, I also purchase from other coffee shops that make better coffee, but that sometimes requires getting on a bus, or driving to have their coffee.

Don't forget, $tarbuck$ also owns Seattles Best Coffee and Torrefazione, both formerly smaller companies. I think the goal is to not take anything for granted.

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by: talfazert @ Mon Aug 24, 2009 at 19:17:42 PM CDT