The Wall Street Journal would have you believe that devastated Starbucks-lovers all over this nation are launching campaigns to try to save their “beloved” Starbucks. We’re not entirely sure that we believe this based on the single example given in the article, but we’ll play along…
In towns as small as Bloomfield, N.M., and metropolises as large as New York, customers and city officials are starting to write letters, place phone calls, circulate petitions and otherwise plead with the coffee company to change its mind.
“Now that it’s going away, we’re devastated,” said Kate Walker, a facilities manager for software company SunGard Financial Systems who recently learned of a store closing in New York City.
While searching for another example of someone who was devastated, we happened across a website called “Save Starbucks,” and grabbed some representative highlights from the guestbook.
“hey are closing two of my favorite Starbucks in Jacksonville, FL. I am devastated! This can not happen!!! I am going to try to get others organized to fight this!”
“I’m not upset… there is one within a few blocks of each other. I try to support local business anyway !”
“who gives a flying f#@k what this yuppie created pos company does…….i hope they all shut down and never-never-never-open againnnn…”
“I am a school teacher and each morning a group of about eight of us meet up at the local starbucks which is three blocks away from our school, and I just hate to see it going out of business. What may we do to stop it?”
“You’ll piss and moan about $4 gas but think nothing of paying $4 for a pint of coffee. You morons, that’s $32 per gallon.”
“Please use this opportunity to learn about good coffee and support your local businesses instead.”
“Ummm….Who gives a rats @ss!!!!!!!”
Well, there you have it. We were able to find a few folks who don’t want this particular Starbucks to close, so maybe you are out there somewhere.
If so, tell us in the comments.
Starbucks Gets Pleas Not to Close Stores [WSJ via Starbucks Gossip]
(Photo: Travelin’ Librarian )
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Even though Starbucks is a large corporation, it is still a local job for some people. I’m not a big fan of Wal-Mart, but its all I’ve got in my suburb and it is supporting the local economy by providing jobs to a lot of people so I don’t mind shopping there.
@CyricTheMad:
So, in effect, “I hope more people lose their jobs, then I hope that some other people die”.
Good times and great comedy.
Sorry, but I feel no sympathy for SBUX. They did this to themselves by not understanding how badly they oversaturated their market.
For instance, where I live in Olathe, KS there is a SBUX to the West of I-35 on 119th street. Travelling East, as soon as you cross the overpass there is a Target store that has a SBUX inside. If you continue going east one more block there is another SBUX. Additionally if take that street (Black Bob) South about a mile to 135th Street there is ANOTHER SBUX. Additionaly, You can go about 2 miles North East from the 119th/Black Bob location and find another one at College and Pflumm but they are closing that one down.
These people need to get over it! There are a millions of other places you can get coffee local coffee shops, Dunkin Donuts, Mc D’s, Burger King, 7-11, Caribou Coffee, and any of the millions of quickie marts and gas stations. It’s not like we have a shortage of coffee people come on.
1) There’s an irony in the fact that most of those who ramble on and on with hatred for Starbucks seem to cite reasons and things that only someone who would have spent considerable time in a Starbucks would know lol.
2) Starbucks is not like Wal-mart and if you don’t believe me, take a survey of all the local S’bux employees in your area. I’ve met something like .5% of employees in like 12 states of Starbucks I’ve visited who were unhappy. I’m against big business on many levels, but most tell me they receive great benefits, they feel good about their job and they like the pay (and flexible hours).
3) I go to Starbucks for great customer service, and I never pay over $2.50 for a medium or large Iced coffee beverage. A “ghetto latte” (look it up) is under $2.25. A medium or “grande” Iced Coffee is under $2.30. And their Iced coffee drinks are superior to any other places in my area (Brooklyn). That’s my shpiel. I also enjoy the customizable drinks.
Anyway… there’s one not too far from me that is closing down (just saw it on the list on this site) and someone launched a local petition (www.starbuckson3rd.info according to the fliers).
Adios
Oh I should add that I frequent local cafes but the closest good one is 10 blocks away (I visit once a week) which is too far before I head to work. There is a local cafe within 500 ft of my apt but it’s higher priced than Starbucks is. Try that on for size! It’s nearly 2x the price.
Just the smell of coffee makes me want to throw up!
Boo-freakin’-hoo.
Someone get me a tniy violin.
@half-beast: or a tiny violin…one of the two.
@mdoublej:
For Copyright
someone owned a coffee shop, who’s logo was a green (but different shade of green than Sbux) circle with an elephant in it. and Sbux sued for copyright infringement.
Again: some people work there. Stop being hateful. Hate the company, but a lot of the people who work are nice there need the jobs. How would you feel if someone told you they were glad you were losing your job, excellent health insurance and tuition reimbursement? While the job may not be the most amazing job where people save the world every day these benefits are not easy to come by. Plus? Recession, much?
@bobpence: Wal-Mart’s health insurance SUCKS. Starbucks does not. I’ve had really good insurance and I’ve had really bad insurance. SBUX has really good insurance, and it’s not all that expensive.
@Kos:
I would like to see a list of how many new starbucks are being opened. We have one inside Target- which doesn’t seem to be slated to close anytime soon, and they are getting ready to open a standalone store across the street from it.
I’m disappointed that a number of the suburban starbucks in my area near Silver Spring, MD are slated to close. I don’t go there all the time (can’t afford to), but my area does not have the number of small-business coffee shops like I used to have access to when I lived in DC. I’m afraid the absence of Starbucks will not foster the growth of independent shops, but serve as a warning to other businesses that the market cannot sustain them.
@TheSpatulaOfLove:
its well warranted
Yeah great idea. Force Starbucks to operate unprofitable stores so they have to raise their prices. This isn’t socialism. I don’t want the price of my coffee raised so Sally Coffee-drinker doesn’t have to cross the street to get her morning frap.
This sucks when there aren’t any little mom & pop coffee shops and it’s Starbucks v. WaWa. Such is my case. The only Starbucks on my way into work is closing. That’s it. There is not one down the block or across the street or the next town over. It’s fifteen minutes in the opposite direction for the nearest Starbucks.
Yes, I know I know. Starving children in Africa/China would appreciate the food I could buy them with what I pay each day for a latte ($2.50) Yup, and the coffee is “burnt”. Yup, and they’re an evil corporation. I know I know. I should just suck it up and hit the WaWa. But damn their “lattes” suck and I actually PREFER Starbucks. And yeh, 15 minutes out of my way means I only have to leave the house a half hour earlier to get my coffee. But when you’re already up at 5:30 AM, that extra half hour sucks.
Gah, cry some more.
Go find a nice local shop and support a local business with good coffee.
The market can handle cafe’s I think, Starbucks saturated the market with their 1000s of stores. Naturally as people dont have as much spending money now, they no longer need Starbucks every 2 blocks. they had to many stores to begin with.
Hello my name is Harvey. And I drink Starbucks Coffee.
@Colage: Just because something’s part of your daily routine, doesn’t mean you don’t want it to be quality. If anything, it’s quite the opposite.
And cream and sugar are meant to compliment the taste of coffee, not override it.
I.E. You’re doing it wrong.
I think there are enough Starbucks within a 1 mile radius of my house to make up for all of these ones being shut down. I’d gladly ship them to you if you need them!
@HeartBurnKid, creepy morbid freak: Yes, I understand that. But I think to say “Well, Starbucks coffee sucks and people should just go to a local store” isn’t practical. I, and I’d imagine most people, place a greater emphasis on convenience than “quality.”
And really, Starbucks isn’t that bad. I think it’s just trendy to bash on them because they have, you know, shareholders. Can someone point out what they’ve done that’s so egregious?
And for the record, I drink my coffee black, the point of the dumping cream and sugar into coffee was pointing out that a pretty big chunk of the population really shouldn’t be judging their coffee.
I read that article in the Wall Street Journal. And I also saw the full-page add for Starbucks on the back. Might the WSJ write a favorable article about how sad everyone is that the stores are closing and about how much people love their Starbucks to sell the full-page add on the back of the same section? Nah, the WSJ is a real newspaper that would NEVER happen…
Actually I think Starbucks coffee IS that bad. It’s so bitter and over roasted, i would have to put milk in it, and that’s really not an option for me. Besides the more you roast coffee, the less caffeine is in it. If you’re drinking coffee for the boost Starbucks isn’t the place to go. Dunkin Donuts coffee has ALOT of caffeine in it because it is such a light roast. Might not have much body, but it’ll have you jumping.
I make my coffee at home most times. With freshly ground beans and filtered water. Nothing i buy in a store compares to that.
There are 6 locally owned coffee shops closer to my house than the nearest starbucks 8.6 miles away.
Which mom & pop coffee shop has really been hurt by starbucks?
@snoop-blog: Maybe this tells us something about what Buckystars is doing right.
I often hear people lamenting the loss of small, locally based coffee shops, book stores, restaurants, but strangely most people don’t really seem to care when they go out of business. When the mega corp decides to shut down their stores though people get upset and do things like this… that seems worth looking at.
I mean, sure it’s popular (especially here) to bash Starbucks, but obviously a lot of people like it (I don’t know why, then again I don’t like coffee at all) and it might even be argued that they like it more than they like a lot of local alternatives. It seems like that should tel us something about what they’re doing better than small, local shops (and it seems like something valuable for the local shops to learn from and copy).
I think back to the post last week about Murky’s Coffee and it’s Coffee Nazi owner and I wonder if attitudes like that (among other factors) don’t make it so that a tolerable coffee place like Starbucks ends up winning over more people than coffee shops that antagonize certain parts of the market.
@glitterpig: We had the same experience here in Houston with Diedrich Coffee. They had some of the best coffee I’ve ever had, but the afternoon/evening staff working the Bay Area location (and I hear, the old Westheimer too) were thoroughly unpleasant and snotty. If you asked a question or requested something (you know, like cream), the staff were incredibly uncivil. The staff in the morning seemed fine. Judging by the local restaurant review site, *lots* of people had bad experiences with the staff there – so it wasn’t a huge surprise when the Bay Area and Westheimer locations were closed.
So I’m an old fogey, but I believe that businesses should endeavor to be friendly, and be polite at minimum. Many of these cool mom n’ pop stores don’t necessarily hire staff who agree with those principles.
I used to be very anti-Starbucks for all the reasons described above – wanting to support local business owners, etc. Starbucks coffee is usually good but not great or excellent, and it took time to get used to the “burnt” taste.
But on the other hand, the staff always seem to be happy at the Starbucks around here. They appear to be treated well, better than the part-timers at many independently-owned stores. And you know pretty much what you’re going to get – you won’t be surprised by someone swabbing Hershey’s syrup in your mocha. yech.
There are some *bad* mom n’ pop shops out there that don’t deserve to stay open, because the food and service is bad.
Also, while some coffee shops have probably been hurt by having a Starbucks move in… Starbucks has also popularized coffee to an even wider market that never knew what a latte was, 10, 15 years ago. They may have helped many independent sellers, in the long run.
Hating Starbucks has to be the laziest way to get your fill of irrational corporate hatred.
@blackmage439:
Wow, you truly are an asshat. We need a Golden Asshat Award for posters like you.
Ellsworth Toohey would be proud of you.
The point; never think independently, and ignore facts whenever they are inconvenient.
I like Starbucks, their coffee doesn’t have that raw sewage aftertaste.
@oldheathen: Reminds me of my favorite Southern phrase to pronounce: “tire iron”. Comes out as taarr arn…and almost impossible to say drunk.
To preface this, I’m not a coffe drinker, so I can’t take one side or another as to what good coffe is, or whether or not starbucks makes the aforementioned good coffe.
What I do enjoy, though, is good beer, and after reading all of these posters go on and on about the nuances of coffe, I wish there were beer shops, like coffe shops, where I could enjoy a tasty XX at my convenience whilist checking my emails on their wifi.
If only I ran the world.
@RamV10: Heh, they’re actually doing that at some of the Four Points hotels. I know the bar and restaurant at the Four Points LAX actually has a beer sommalier (and yes, free wifi).
I hear the “Starbuck’s drives out smaller competitors” rant quite a lot, but frankly the empirical evidence doesn’t seem to back that up. In the areas I’ve lived in, the arrival of The Mermaid has actually caused an increase of coffeehouse start-ups, and most of them are still around and doing pretty well even with the Starbuck’s competition. I’m not for more corporate-owned businss over independent merchants, but the conventional wisdom that corporates invariably spell doom for the indie business doesn’t always hold true.
I like Starbucks. I have tried mom and pop coffee shops, and mostly I find them annoying. In my experience they usually know less about making good coffee. One time I went to one and ordered an iced latte. What I got back was just sort of cold… there was no ice in it. It was gross.
I know there are good mom and pop coffee shops, as a friend and her husband own an amazing one in South Florida. But mostly, if I am in a town with an unknown local coffee shop or the always-the-same Starbucks, I will choose Starbucks. At least I can always order my coffee the same way. And the new Starbucks card rewards are pretty nice.
Yes, their coffee can taste burned. Do I give a crap? No. It tastes fine to me when I order it with soymilk and syrup.
The coffee snobs who post here act like all Starbucks customers are stupid for drinking burned coffee. I’ve tried all kinds of coffee and I like Starbucks. Now leave me alone!
I like Starbucks a lot, in fact, one could say that I love Starbucks. I limit myself to going there about once a day, on my lunch break. I’ve gone to a schmorgasborg of coffee houses, individually owned, family owned, semi-corporate (Honey Dew, etc), but there’s a reason I go to Starbucks:
- Starbucks is *consistent.* Every time I go to Starbucks to get a coffee, I get the same high-quality coffee… EVERY TIME, or at least 9/10.
- People who work at Starbucks are customer oriented, they are nice, and they are excellent at what they do.
- I *prefer* Starbucks “over-roasted” flavor. “Over-roasted” and “burned” are not the same thing.
- Starbuck’s ice coffee is excellent.
- The service is consistantly great, they hardly ever screw up, the staff very rarely acts like “they’re doing me a favor” by my patronage.
The reasons I don’t (usually) go to the mom and pop places:
- Their coffee is very inconsistent. There’s a lot of locally owned places around here, and I’ve tried them all and usually go to them once a week or so, or if I’m in the area… but if I go in 5 times a week, 5 of those times my coffee is different. Once in a while it’ll be good and I cherish those times, but other times… it’ll be luke warm, way too hot, sitting around for a while, etc.
- The people who usually work at mom and pop places are NOT professionally trained nor do they necessarily know anything about coffee. I loved one place near where I work, but the couple who owned it (who KNEW coffee), sold it to people who didn’t… and they ruined it. The straw that broke the camel’s back is when the owner, trying to be nice and courteous (which she was), insisted on microwaving the cup of coffee I was buying… because it was luke warm. It’s the last time I went there.
- Service is unpredictable. I’m on a schedule… I can’t wait for some Riot Grrrl to publish her latest Zine article about neofeminism when I need a cup of coffee.
- The elitist mentality of the employees, ESPECIALLY at night, at local places… Like, if Im not one of their friends or don’t have giant guage-earings then I’m not worthy of them being friendly.
- The employees can usually do a few things well, but lack elsewhere. I have simple coffee tastes: Black, strong, hot. Iced, strong, cream only. Not difficult. But people in front of me in line may have very peculiar tastes… long-winded lattes, etc. Mom and pop folks can make my coffee without problems, but I don’t want to wait 9 minutes while they prepare the made-to-order person in front of me.
** In conclusion. I _love_ the Starbucks that I go to. I’ve written Corporate letters about it… the people are awesome, the coffee is great, and it truley feels like an escape from my workday, not a necessary evil, or some chore, like almost every other coffee place does. If my store were closing, I may cry. Thankfully, it is not.
@dragonvpm: Bookstores are a good analogy to this. There was a pretty good locally owned bookstore around here that everybody in the area went to, it was very successful and popular, but about 7 or 8 years ago, a Barnes and Noble opened some miles away, but within driving distance. I used to go to the local bookstore until I got so sick of being treated with disregard and disdain at the local store that I stopped going there… and then went to B&N, which had a better selection of books, didn’t have the elitism, would order any book that they didn’t have, and the staff didn’t walk around acting like because I didn’t agree with their post-modern pseudo-philosophy that I wasn’t suitable to shop at their bookstore.
The local place went out of business a few years ago, but even when you talk to people who regularly shopped there for 20 years, nobody complained about its closing… once they realized that you don’t get treated like garbage at other bookstores.
I’ve seen them in Seattle! They’re real! Walking home from the supermarket today, I was stopped by an older lesbian outside the Starbucks on 15th Ave on Capitol Hill. She asked me to sign a petition to keep her beloved location open. I signed, cuz really what good will it do unless she offers to pay the wages of every employee. the thing that kills me is how bummed she seemed, despite the fact that there are 2 really good local coffee shops (Victrola & Cafe Ladro) within a block of this Starbucks. Some people, huh?
@blackmage439: Clearly you have an extra chromosome and are unable to see reality. I have no patience for people like you. Enjoy your life, it will probably be really long as only the good die young.
Starbucks helped to make it okay to pay $4 for a latte. It’s accepted, almost expected. There is also something called “The Starbucks Effect” wherein you are a mom and pops close to SBUX and your business goes up because those people that don’t want to wait in line at SBUX will go to the mom and pops.
Not that it happens a lot but it does happen.
@blackmage439:
a) Not True
B) Not True
C) For me, Not True. Others agree with you, but that’s the nature of perception and sensation.
Your comment overall = FAIL!
Yeah, sadly good and friendly service is not always the magic formula that will save an independent merchant from getting tromped by a Corporate-zilla, but it sure as heck doesn’t hurt, a fact which a fair amount of indie businesses don’t seem to grasp. There are no small number of independently-owned shops that Imjust don’t patronize anymore precisely because of the sort of snotty, elitist attitudes some of the posters here have described. If I’m spending my money in your establishment, I’m doing you a favor, not the other way around. I’m always happy to give my business to the little guy, and there are plenty of them in my area who are absolutely great folks–but if they behave like dicks to their customers, they deserve to get bludgeoned by the Corporate Hammer O’ Death, IMHO.
@robotrousers:
Cafe Ladro is truly amazing. Horribly rude employees, but I take it because they can pull a great shot.
I go to Intelligentsia in LA whenever I’m out that way. Again, amazing coffee, but served by people I’d rather eye-fork than interact with. Thats the problem with coffee being “hip.”
I don’t care too much for Starbucks; however, I will go there from time to time to buy a Frappuccino.
Their stupid ordering system is what really ticks me off. If I want a medium coffee, I shouldn’t have to be corrected each time with “Oh, you want a grandé coffee?”
Starbucks only tastes like crap if you don’t know what you’re ordering.
How can you compare McDonalds coffee to Starbucks? wtf. are you high or something?!
Either way, they’re not gone. So a few stores have closed, it probably wasn’t worth there time anyway. I’ll still have a frap though, thanks.