New Line of Starbucks Stores Minus The Starbucks??

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chase on July 25, 2009 at 8:49pm

speaking as someone who works for the bux in a retail store, seeing this type of stores fills me with a sad kind of hope. Manual machine? No blenders? My god, how can I work THERE?! Honestly, it might be fake, but they are TRYING. A clover? A pour over setup? Those are things I couldn't even dream of any Sbux ever having. I *wish* my store had that, if only to try and make a good cup of coffee (I'd probably use a different bean...but still!)

Sure it might seem fake to you, but I would kill to have my store become one of those. I suppose I could always just quit and work at an independent shop but there aren't really any that close by where I live that can give me 40 hours and medical/dental/vision, pay for school, etc.

So for now I just dream of a day when I might work at a sbux like the one in those pictures.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joe Marrocco on July 27, 2009 at 10:22am

Very well put, Jay.

Jay Caragay said:

After seeing the photos provided, I'm a bit saddened. Not because Starbucks is pursuing this new approach but rather because this 15th Avenue is such a caricature of Third Wave and what we, as a community, are supposedly about.

They've managed to take the best elements that I've seen in 3W shops across America and combine them with the worst elements. All the capital resources available to them and I would have liked to see a bit better in design and approach. After working with environmentally-friendly construction techniques and artifact salvage these past two years, much of the materials incorporated in the finished product are not cheap but are presented in a way that really doesn't better the design of the 3W flophouses that look that way because of poor design approach and limited capital.

As I reviewed the images, thoughts of "Four Barrel", "Zoka" and others popped into mind. In the end, it's a cool idea whose execution and release doesn't really challenge anything that we are doing on the home front.

Sadly, it's a celebration of everything I see wrong with 3W/Barista culture.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Mike Spence on July 27, 2009 at 2:38pm

Well I stopped in the store yesterday with my wife and kids. Interesting store. They are trying all the good things in coffee with the new (old) espresso machines, clover and pour over station. I thought that it was interesting that they don't have any pricing on the menu boards. Instead they have a book at the counter with full descriptions of all the coffee and tea and a price in there. Serving everything in house in ceramic cups as well.

On a side note - Mark - I had a chance to stop in and have a great capp at your location!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Al Soto on October 19, 2009 at 10:58am

They are open. http://www.minilink.me/sneakystarbucks/

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by William Fendler on November 9, 2009 at 6:39pm

I found this article and did a search for it in the forums and I was glad to see discussion started about it.
Here's a small update that I don't think I saw in previous posts. Entrepreneur Mag did an article on this.

http://www.entrepreneur.com/magazine/entrepreneur/2009/november/203...

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Claudia Cabezas on November 10, 2009 at 6:19am

OMG! Falling apart due to the economy or their overpriced "crappy" coffee?????

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeremy Conley on November 10, 2009 at 6:37am

They're also trying to establish monopolies on certain coffees, hoping to strangle supply to smaller shops. The Blue Batak move could be a portent of things to come.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alun Evans on December 1, 2009 at 6:02am

http://blogs.reuters.com/small-business/2009/11/27/the-hidden-meani... Interesting update- last paragraph- the rebranded store 15th Ave store is doing 1/3rd of what the old Starbucks in same location did. Here is a link from the article to the website> http://www.streetlevelcoffee.com/

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Al Sterling on December 1, 2009 at 7:59am

Just a thought, but when reading the bottom of the article, I see that the summary opinion is more a guess than a well derived, quantitative sum of more scientific notation. That comment was, "Perhaps consumer really do want something more than branded artifice; they want something genuinely local." My take was, most consumers are given more credit than they deserve. I'm thinking allot of passer-bys perceive the rebranded location as another neighborhood coffee shop, and since they are not familiar with it, go to a more known entity. A more scientific setup would be to have a Starbucks very close by, and monitor the foot traffic when the consumers have three choices; independent retailer of long standing in the neighborhood, rebranded new looking coffee shop, and a well known chain store. I didn't read, or I missed, any direct polling of those consumers?

Alun Evans said:

http://blogs.reuters.com/small-business/2009/11/27/the-hidden-meani... Interesting update- last paragraph- the rebranded store 15th Ave store is doing 1/3rd of what the old Starbucks in same location did. Here is a link from the article to the website> http://www.streetlevelcoffee.com/

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Joseph Robertson on December 1, 2009 at 8:29am

I thought *$'s already tried buying up coffee farms to monopolize on crops and cut out the smaller buyers? Are they back at it with a new twist?


Jeremy Conley said:

They're also trying to establish monopolies on certain coffees, hoping to strangle supply to smaller shops. The Blue Batak move could be a portent of things to come.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by teresa on December 1, 2009 at 8:00pm

It's true sometimes consumers get more credit than they deserve, Al, but I don't think in this case. At least here in MI, there seems to be a growing interest in the supporting local business in order to try to preserve our towns. Signs for the 3/50 Project are everywhere... http://www.the350project.net/home.html Maybe people are starting to get fed up with the deceit and abuses of big corporate America.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Al Sterling on December 2, 2009 at 7:02am

Teresa, coming from a formal marketing and sales background, I'm in "respectful suspect" of opinions based on observation only. And understand, there are times when the market shifts are so obvious, or the local buying habits so "in our face", that we really don't need a Phd to tell us what we know. But in this case, and with so much at stake economically, I would be prefer to hear from the consumers as directly as possible. The article, like the coffee community, offers opinion and hope, not hard numbers. One of the toughest marketing talents to develope is that of seperating quantitative information from emotionally based opinion. I'm allowing that "some awakened coffee consumers" may sense the difference between quality product and brewing methods, but my "gut feeling" and conversation with consumers at various retail venues tells me that the greater population isn't that saavy, or are not looking for what the specialty coffee community identifies as a "better product or environment." I would have liked to read the article with more objective information peppered into it.

And regarding the 3/50 project, yes, that's encouraging and similar movements are occuring in other cities. I'm focusing here on specialty coffee, and even coffee served in non-coffee shop venues. It's the awareness and coffee education level of the consumer in which I'm interested. And ultimately, because I want to see how that effects the final point of interest; their coffee related buying habits.

teresa said:

It's true sometimes consumers get more credit than they deserve, Al, but I don't think in this case. At least here in MI, there seems to be a growing interest in the supporting local business in order to try to preserve our towns. Signs for the 3/50 Project are everywhere... http://www.the350project.net/home.html Maybe people are starting to get fed up with the deceit and abuses of big corporate America.

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5
• Next ›
• Page