Good News for Local Coffee Houses
Conventional wisdom dictates that the arrival of a new Starbucks is a death sentence for a neighborhood's independently owned coffee houses. Maybe not, says Slate:
In its predatory store placement strategy, Starbucks has been about as lethal a killer as a fluffy bunny rabbit. Business for independently owned coffee shops has been nothing less than exceptional as of late. Here's a statistic that might be surprising, given the omnipresence of the Starbucks empire: According to recent figures from the Specialty Coffee Association of America, 57 percent of the nation's coffeehouses are still mom and pops. Just over the five-year period from 2000 to 2005--long after Starbucks supposedly obliterated indie cafes--the number of mom and pops grew 40 percent, from 9,800 to nearly 14,000 coffeehouses. (Starbucks, I might add, tripled in size over that same time period. Good times all around.)
There's a new Starbucks opening this week right outside 5280's parking garage, which will knock a city block off my morning walk from my car to the office. If you're looking for an independent java fix in Denver, here's the best place to start.
Comments
Submitted by DCB (not verified) on Wed, 2008-01-02 09:31.
Hey, thanks for the link! Ironic that my latest post is about a detour to the local Starbucks :-) While Starbucks has a pretty aggressive expansion pattern, as a whole, indie shops can thank the big guys for training people to drink $4 coffee and adding to a coffee culture. I'll still pick the indie shops any day of the week though!
Submitted by D Needham (not verified) on Tue, 2008-01-01 22:02.
I've never been a big coffee drinker, but sometimes found myself at Starbucks where I bought a cup of coffee while I sat and read my book, figuring the price of a cup was cheap rent for the chair.
Then I discovered Woody's coffee bar inside Smoky Hill Library in far, far east Centennial. Reading my book, I was quite surprised by the taste of a wonderful cup of medium roast Bolivian coffee. It was quite different than Starbucks, and in the days that followed, Woody's coffee became a habit. I was soon spoiled and now can't stand to drink the bitter and burnt taste of Starbucks coffee. It is amazing what an independent businessman can produce, and equally amazing what the general public will accept.
