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Indies Love Starbucks?
Slate has a pretty interesting piece arguing that independent coffeehouses actually benefit when a Starbucks moves in next door.
Ever since Starbucks blanketed every functioning community in America with its cafes, the one effect of its expansion that has steamed people the most has been the widely assumed dying-off of mom and pop coffeehouses. …[but] strange as it sounds, the best way to boost sales at your independently owned coffeehouse may just be to have Starbucks move in next-door.
That’s certainly how it worked out for Hyman. Soon after declining Starbucks’s buyout offer, Hyman received the expected news that the company was opening up next to one of his stores. … Each new Starbucks store created a local buzz, drawing new converts to the latte-drinking fold. When the lines at Starbucks grew beyond the point of reason, these converts started venturing out—and, Look! There was another coffeehouse right next-door! Hyman’s new neighbor boosted his sales so much that he decided to turn the tactic around and start targeting Starbucks. “We bought a Chinese restaurant right next to one of their stores and converted it, and by God, it was doing $1 million a year right away,” he said.
It probably helps that Starbucks’ coffee doesn’t taste very good. Anyway this rings true. I don’t remember a ton of independent coffee shops being around in my hometown before the days of ubiquitous Starbucks storefronts, but now they’re much more common.
