March 13, 2007 10:58 AM
Starbucks and wretched excess - coming to Purcellville too?
Starbucks plans to open 40,000 new stores
Current stats:
13,000 shops,
130,000 employees
Currently opening 6 new shops/day.
I was amazed when we visited New York to find a Starbucks on every corner. Did you know you can type in an address at the Starbucks store locator to find all the Starbucks in a 5-mile radius? Type in 55th and Broadway and you'll find 197! That's right - 197 Starbucks in a 5-mile radius in Manhattan!
I hear there's one coming to our little town of Purcellville (I live in the country about six miles from Purcellville). Anyone got news on this?
We already have two coffee shops in Purcellville - both locally owned and with great coffee and unbeatable ambiance. There are two Starbucks in Leesburg - the next biggest town about seven miles away. Do we need a Starbucks in Purcellville?
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Comments
One does wonder how many Starbucks coffee drinkers need...But if it's any consolation, I'll bet your locally owned coffee shops will survive the addition of a Starbucks. Here in my little town (and I do mean little!), we have four (yes four!) locally owned coffee kiosks. Several months ago, a Starbucks also moved in. It hasn't hurt the other coffee shops at all. (I guess the Starbuck fans were previously brewing their own Starbucks coffee at home!)
Posted by: Kristina | March 13, 2007 11:30 AM
It's being built INSIDE the Giant on Main Street. No date has been set for the opening. I'd bet within a year, both of our Mom &Pop coffee houses will not be open. No one can withstand the Starbuck factor.
But have you EVER seen one go out of business?
Excess is right...
Suzanne
who LIVES in P'Ville
Posted by: suzanne | March 13, 2007 11:43 AM
Absolutely not! Personally, I much prefer the atmosphere I can find at any of the four "local" coffee shops I've been to over Starbucks. Hopefully, most people in your area will feel the same way and continue to give their business to your local shops.
One of the things I'm still adjusting to over almost two years after moving to the Rochester area is dealing with the excessive presence of various chain stores. Here, the presence of fast food establishments seem to be the worst. It seems like a given chain has a franchise every two to three miles. For instance, when my commute was only five miles long, I still managed to pass two different Burger King stores every day.
Of course, the one that really boggles my mind is the gas station over on Lehigh Station Road that sells Tim Horton doughnuts despite the fact that there's a Tim Horton store on the very same block. It's things like that which remind me just how obsessed with consumption we are as a society.
Posted by: Jarred | March 13, 2007 11:49 AM
When Starbucks came to our city (it is 174,000 but very small town feel to it) there was a big hu-ha about it. They wanted to place the first store right across from the very few locally owned coffee places. I have never been to a Starbucks and probably never will. I don't understand the fascination of paying $5.00 for a coffee drink. I go to our locally owned coffee shop and order a large cappuccino for $1.60 and that is with tax! Starbucks is way overrated and they seem to be way to into the liberal bent to get my business.
Mrs. Damian Garcia
P.S.Keep on supporting your local coffee houses! I am learning more and more about supporting our local businesses and not giving so much of my money away to Wal-Mart and the likes. I love Wal-Mart but there is a price to pay sometimes when we *only* shop there!
Posted by: Mrs. Damian Garcia | March 13, 2007 12:40 PM
We currently have one Starbucks right now, but most people don't know it, because like yours and Suzanne's (in P'ville) it's inside a grocery store. Since there are two of the Dillon's stores here, a lot of people shop the closer one (I prefer the one farther away, it's cleaner and brighter)...so they don't know about the Starbucks.
BUT - they are opening a stand-alone store. Right in the heart of Aggieville (which is what they call the central area of Manhattan, KS where Kansas State University is located). There was a pizza joint there. They moved. Now Starbucks is moving in, and they're going to have a drive-thru as well...which is going to be a traffic NIGHTMARE. It's about 100 yards from one stop light, and 150 yards from another light. Traffic will constantly be trying to take left turns to get into the drive... etc, etc. I oftimes think they don't really think these things through.
I'd rather drink my home brewed German coffee, thank you. If I want the "flavorings" I will add them myself. If I feel the need for espresso, I will make it at home with an old fashioned Italian espresso maker. Same for Cappucino...the only time (and this would be rare) I will use Starbucks is if I'm absolutely craving a Caramel Macchiato.
Posted by: linda | March 13, 2007 12:48 PM
Suzanne and Linda -
that reminds me that we actually have THREE starbucks in Leesburg because we also have one embedded in a Target right across the street from an official Starbucks!
Oops - time to open another, probably :)
Posted by: barbara | March 13, 2007 1:36 PM
Oh well, at least it's not a bar or a strip club!
My dad was lamenting that no one goes out for drinks any more. . .there are no bars to go bar hopping. . .everyone just "goes out for coffee". . . I think it's a step in the right direction, really.
Posted by: Marie | March 13, 2007 2:25 PM
I don't know if you "need" a Starbucks : ) - locally owned shops are ALWAYS a joy to support in my opinion ;), BUT the nice thing about Starbucks is that they have GREAT benefits!!! Some really close friends of ours have been BLESSED by their benefits - you only have to be part time to get them!!!! That's RARE!!!!! And they are good benefits not "just benefits"!! Always a plus in my book ; )
Posted by: shawnda | March 13, 2007 3:47 PM
The comedian Lewis Black does a bit about the "end of the universe," which according to him is the corner of West Gray and Shepherd here in Houston -- where there are two Starbucks right across the street from each other. Since I used to go to a movie theater on West Gray all the time, right after the second Starbucks opened I asked one of the employees about it. Apparently they were just going to close Starbucks #1 and re-open in a better location across the street. But they had both stores open for a short period to avoid losing customers, and they got so much business that they never closed either of them. To me that says the problem isn't Starbucks -- it's the crazy customers. Starbucks is just accepting the money these nuts are so eager to throw away on burnt coffee. (That's their secret, you know. They overcook the beans. Blech!)
Posted by: Michelle Potter | March 13, 2007 3:54 PM
Actually, there are currently three coffee shops in P'ville. The new Blackberry's moved from the antique store to downtown, the Market Street coffee place in the "Giant" shopping plaza, and the Brew Mountain behind the P'ville Marketplace. If the Starbucks will be inside Giant, it would perhaps not have seating? I've been to the three current coffee shops and they each seem to be surviving each other, so perhaps there will be room for all. Sometimes it's not about the coffee, but about the company we bring along and the conversations we have with friends there.
Posted by: Valerie | March 13, 2007 10:03 PM
ha, ha...you should visit Seattle. You think New York is bad. :)
Posted by: agatha | March 14, 2007 9:29 AM
Oh Geesh. My town has so many starbucks it is disgusting.
We actually liked this though when we were using them for their internet hot spots. Now our cell-phone can be used as a modem anywhere so we don't need to use hot spots.
(You may be wondering why anybody would need to use the internet that much and for us it is because we spend a lot of time out of the house and we do college online.)
Posted by: paigeu | March 14, 2007 1:47 PM
I live in New York. There are many Starbucks (concentrated in a few neighborhoods, i.e. Midtown), but it is also quite possible to drink a lot of coffee without ever entering a Starbucks. I have been boycotting Starbucks (unnoticed) for many years because their coffee is burnt, expensive and nasty and their bizarre invented drinks are not appealing to me. If I must get my fix from a chain, the coffee at Dunkin Donuts, Burger King or even McDonald's is much more agreeable. However, is it true that Starbucks is an unusually benevolent employer.
Posted by: b.a.f. | March 15, 2007 12:34 AM
My sil tells me not to call it "Starbucks," but "Fourbucks." ;-)
Posted by: Lynn | March 17, 2007 10:27 PM
