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On the “Bucks”
By brewmaster | August 1, 2007
I’ll make the disclaimer right off the bat. Dollar Joe is the name of the coffee company I’m developing, mainly because I love coffee, but don’t especially love what the retail coffee industry has become. I’m not sure I’ll fix any of that, but I have a vision for what coffee patrons are looking for today, and rather than just bitch about it not being in evidence everywhere, I’m working to make it available somewhere.
That being said, it’s really become apparent to me lately that the big dog in the coffee business has shifted it’s emphasis from being a customer’s "third place" as they used to say (internally, at least), refering to the location patrons spend time after home and work, to being a place to drop in, drop as many dollars as possible and leave. Is it just me, or has all the charm of the coffeehouse been exorcised from Starbucks?
The new stores seem to be set up to handle a line of people first, and the comfort of coffee drinkers and lingerers second. Displays of crap to buy are everywhere, helping to create aisles for people to line up, but comfortable seating with spacious tables are less and less in evidence. Is that by design? Doesn’t Starbucks want to see us anymore, after we’ve deposited our money in their till?
I understand that table turns are an important thing in the food service business, but I thought the coffee house was different. Sadly, Starbucks has run off scads of true coffee houses only to make their place a drive-thru. Though I take my fair share of the blame, it’s sad the bait and switch they’ve done. There are wonderful, homey Starbucks I’ve visited, like Montgomery, Ohio and Schaumburg, Illinois. But most of the new stores are rectangular boxes designed to handle the line of people waiting to grab and go, and that’s sad. It’s why I hope Caribou Coffee continues to expand and never changes the feel of it’s stores. That’s great atmosphere, and it gets the coffee house industry back to where it should be.
Tags: coffee, Starbucks, Caribou Coffee
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