Seattle Coffee Shop Owner Says Starbucks Ripped Off Her Look
Starbucks, after finally coming to terms with the fact that it is soul-crushingly bland, has been trying to reinvent itself as... well, not Starbucks. They're stripping the branding from a few of their stores and renaming them after the communities that they're in -- but one local coffee shop owner says they've gone too far to try to blend in.
According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Starbucks had this to say about their de-branding efforts:
"We're continuing our commitment to delivering specialty coffee excellence while refreshing our store design approach with an amplified focus on local relevance," Kim-Williams said, citing the earthy store at First Avenue and Pike Street as an earlier example of the guise. "Ultimately, we hope customers will feel an enhanced sense of community and a deeper connection to our coffee heritage."
Linda Derschang says that Starbucks is simply forging a deeper connection to her interior design ideas.
"It's got a lot of salvaged wood, it's the same paint color inside as Smith and some of the wood framed chalkboards look very, very similar," she said. "If they had decided to do that look in a different neighborhood or city that would be one thing, but trying to position themselves as an independent coffee house? Where's the independent spirit in knocking someone off?"
Starbucks was apparently spotted hanging out in one of her coffee shops — taking notes. One manager told the paper that Starbucks spies even asked her where they bought their awnings.
Derschang says she's planning on meeting with Starbucks before considering a lawsuit.
Neighbor: Starbucks stole my ambiance [Seattle PI] (Thanks, SK!)
(Photo:louisabate)
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Starbucks totally stole my flavor too... from the urinal I use at work.
"We're continuing our commitment to delivering really expensive coffee while disguising our stores with an amplified focus on recovering falling sales," Kim-Williams said, citing the earthy store at First Avenue and Pike Street as an earlier example of the guise. "Ultimately, we hope customers will be tricked into thinking they're patronizing a local business that's enhancing their community, rather than a soulless corporation using mimicry and subterfuge in lieu of an actual coffee heritage."
@cpt.snerd: You mean when they switched to that awful Pike's Place brew, that wasn't enough to get you to stop?
/ used to love Starbuck's
What did she do when she spotted them in her store? She should have IMMEDIATELY told them they were no longer welcome.
I was so excited to go to Seattle and try the independent coffee shops. It was a letdown to taste that none were even close to Intelligentsia here in Chicago. Better hope Int. doesn't move in on Seattle or there will be a beat-down!
@Quake 'n' Shake: Well - taste is a personal opinion. I'm speaking more towards the business ethics which just seems plain dirty. (I mean, I agree with the taste, but just wanted to keep that separate)
Hmm, I wouldn't go to a debranded Starbucks somewhere, only because I wouldn't know it is a Starbucks. I know a lot of people hate Starbucks coffee, I happen to like it, and I also like that it's consistent no matter where you are... the same cannot be said for most other places, where the experience varies greatly even just depending on what time of day and who's working.
Starbucks has established my loyalty because I can spot them on a block... if I'm traveling for work, I look out for the green awnings, etc. If it looked like the typical neighborhood coffee place, I probably wouldn't notice it or go in there.
I've never understood the $5 coffee business model. Are there really that many suckers in the world?
I was waiting for this to show up here. She's basically complaining that the Starbucks is using recycled wood on their exterior; like THAT's an original idea. She'll probably also complain about them copying her idea of using mismatched, second-hand chairs inside the store. NO coffee shop has done that before. If using olde-tymey wood on the outside of a beverage service is a "brand", this woman should be sued by every dive and motorcycle bar from Aberdeen to Pensicola.
@YouDidWhatNow?: Man, some people just don't understand sarcasm. It's sad. And I thought Steven Colbert was pretty popular...
@farcast: +1 for Intellgentsia. There are some indie coffee shops: Cafe Vita, El Diablo, and actually, the original starbucks location (where they use manual machines, etc.)
There will be no beat down. SBUX will do the same thing they do in other cities, pay extra for exclusive leases or buy an entire building, cancel the mom and pop lease and then resell the building, while giving themselves an exclusive long term lease.
@MostlyHarmless: What sarcasm? Colbert is the best conservative host on TV! Also, bears are terrifying!
@MichaelBrazell: Wow, finally someone else that gets it. Is it the best coffee in the world? Not necessarily. Is it nice to be able to order the same thing in Seattle, Austin, Miami, NYC, or any airport/midsized or larger town in the country? I think so.
The only thing worse than paying $5 for a coffee is paying $5 for coffee from a local shop that may or may not be good.
@halcyondays: Not everyone buys the $5 coffees. Have you ever patronised one to gather a sense of what the average price per coffee beverage is?
I don't like coffee or Starbucks, but, living in Seattle and hearing a lot about these un-Starbucks places has made me want to check them out to see how skilled they are at tricking people into drinking Starbucks.
@cpt.snerd: Even the fact that they placed their store right beside the other coffee shop speaks volumes.
@Wireless Joe: It's more than recycled wood and old chairs. It's the same paint colors, same light fixtures, asking where she got her awnings, using chalkboards like she does, etc.
"All five of her restaurants, bars and coffee shops throughout Seattle have a signature look Derschang designed."
It may be up to the courts to decide how many of Smith's "identifying marks" were actually poached by Starbucks. But Starbucks isn't exactly being PR-smart by appearing to rip off its locally-owned competitors. There are probably a million other interior design directions they could have taken other than "rustic mountaineer."
@MichaelBrazell: Yes. Admittedly, I'm not speaking as a coffee drinker myself, but it seems to me that "bland and generic" (though in a way that sometimes draws a veneer over that) + consistent is the mark of a successful U.S. chain. And honestly, if you're going to have consistency and thousands of locations, it's going to operate as "generic" merely because of the scale.
It sounds to me like they're trying to market according to scuttlebutt rather than actual customers. In other words, selling people what they say they want tends not to be as lucrative as selling people what they actually want, and it sounds like they're foregoing the second for the first.
What I want to know is if they'll be charging less and using cups with the new rebrand. If not, then it's a big fail. Give me a "Starbucks" cup, then the benefit of the local coffeshop experience is for naught. The same price as Starbucks just offends my general Consumerist nature!
@MichaelBrazell: I have the same feeling about Starbucks. I drive around a lot and it's nice that I can just spot the sign from the freeway and know I will get exactly the same cup of coffee.
@halcyondays: A cup of coffee is $2 or less (depending on the size of your beverage). A venti mocha latte espresso cappuccino, that will cost you. :)
Lets make something clear... these independent coffee shops mostly pay their workers dirt. The workers in tern are idiots who over roast the coffee, give crappy service, and cant answer some of the basic questions about coffee you might want to know...
Starbucks pays its employees a fair wage, does 401k, and medical. They are trained, they know what they are doing, and can answer questions. The coffee is good.
And a coffee isnt $4-5... is those stupid over the top over sugared candy drinks that are over priced.
(I get my coffee from the local BP... hot. fresh. and damn good.)
@JLHilton: It'd probably be state-trademark claim at best... Look and feel lawsuits don't tend to go too far because many of the elements tend to be be functional - come on, a claim on the use of chalkboards? Its a longshot and I suspect Starbucks is much better funded and can easily outlast her.
I find Consumerist's hate of Starbucks to be kind of exhausting.
It's a chain of coffee shops. Do you hate Burger King for selling hamburgers when you can get one at the diner across the street? Do you hate Pizza Hut for selling pizza when there are pizzerias all over?
Do you really hate Starbucks or are you just riding the backlash against something that was once very popular?
@MostlyHarmless: They understand sarcasm. They just can't decide whether it's of the friendly ribbing or the condescending variety.
@JustinSane07: See, it's not the killing machine part that bothers me, it's the godlessness. I'm much more comfortable with godly killing.
@JLHilton: @Wireless Joe:
Check out this article for local coverage: [slog.thestranger.com] and pay special attention to the picture; that's as generic a coffee shop motif as I can think of, with the exception of the taxidermy. If Starbucks decides to hand dead animals from the walls, then she may have a case. Otherwise, it's just another coffee shop with wood floors, beat up fixtures and subdued lighting.
@Easton21: Of course you would understand and dish out your fair share of scarcasm, you have the great Master Shake as your avatar! (Aqua Teen Hunger force go!)
@CaffiendCA: The article at The Stranger states the coffee will be rebranded to match watever "local" name the store carries. Starbucks coffee isn't any more expensive (comparing similar drinks) than the local guys, people just like to complain about "four dollar coffee" when in actuality a cup of coffee at Starbucks starts at less than two dollars. They're even testing $1 cups of drip coffee with free refills. [blogs.thenewstribune.com]
@Easton21: I think you're missing the irony in what you're responding to, and mistaking hyperbole for sarcasm in your own comment.
@Wireless Joe: Yes, I'll have to agree. I'm 2,000 miles away and that could be a couple of our locals with taxidermy added. (She's really claiming chalkboards as original?)
It does sound like they scavenged her particular place for their details, and that's pretty scummy. But it looks to me like they're details they could have gotten from anywhere.
They came into her store with folders labeled "Observation." It should've been obvious - so couldn't she have just kicked them out? I understand if she personally wasn't present and the staff didn't have the authority (or realize what was going on) to do so.
@Keavy_Rain: "@syzygy: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. "
Linda doesn't want flattery, she wants to have a local set of distinct and successful businesses. Hers aren't even chains, they each have their own personalities, menus, design philosophy etc.
Will be interesting to see what comes of this, namely seeing as how starbucks has repeatedly sued others for using logos that looked, at the best, vaguely similar to theirs.
@twophrasebark: Interesting idea. It's still very popular, too--it's just not quite as popular as it was. But I do think that distaste for that fact is a large portion of the reaction; otherwise, the people who genuinely don't like their coffee wouldn't be so bothered by the fact. The Wal-Mart hate can fasten itself on some problematic labor practices, but Starbucks, as justsomeotherguy points out, actually has pretty good treatment of its labor.
My main reservations are that I'm somewhat disappointed about the chaining of America in various forms, and that I don't think it's been great for us that not-particularly-healthy food luxuries turn into staples by their convenience. But I still, as a non-coffee drinker, spend money at Starbucks more often than I do at McDonald's, Burger King, and Wendy's combined, and I don't have a problem with that.
@docrice: Exactly. Sbux is not my favorite coffee but it will do and is fairly consistent unless you get a dolt running the machines.
I look for them when traveling because I need my coffee fix and have been burned way too many times by indie coffee shops that actually managed to make something worse than Sbux. So far it has been about a 50-50 on indie shops making something decent vs. something horrible.
Hiding themselves will lose my business.
Wow, I'd love to see pictures of the original compared to the de-branded Starbuck's place.
I don't want to pass judgment without seeing - but honestly from the way this sounds, I would want to stop going to Starbucks on this principle alone.