The one thing I wanted to know in the news stories about the closing of 600 Starbucks locations is the one thing none of them could tell me: Which stores will close?
To a true aficionado, this is a matter of some import. Among those I hope will not close are the following:
- Gervais Street — I went by this one this morning just to help out by buying a cup of the much-maligned Pike Place Roast. The Vista’s only location, its opening last year was long overdue. I suppose the cutbacks preclude the realization of my dream of another store opening nearby, only on the south side of the street — that one would have a drive-through window, and be well-positioned for those of us coming into town from Lexington County via 378. As things stand, the Gervais Street location is the only one conveniently located for folks coming in from West Columbia or Cayce, and therefore should be untouchable.
- 5 Points — Like the Vista, Five Points has to have at least one Starbucks, even though I’ve always slightly resented the fact that this one replaced the last incarnation of The Joyful Alternative.
- White Station in Memphis — Located right next to the Southern railroad tracks, this is a sentimental favorite for two reasons. First, it was for years the only Starbucks convenient to my in-laws’ home in the Bluff City, and I made many a trek there in the early days of my addiction — I mean, infatuation. Second, it replaced a Pancho’s taco location where my wife worked with her friend Mary to earn the money for their backpacking trip across Europe the summer just before I met her. I wasn’t there, but I’ve heard so much about it. And I ate a few tacos from there. I suppose I should resent that one replacing Pancho’s, just as I should resent the Joyful Alternative thing, but I don’t.
- Kirby Parkway (Memphis) near the Bill Morris expressway — Just because I picked up two cups (a tall Pike Place for right away, and a travel mug of Sumatra for the road) on my way out of Memphis Monday. It’s near Mary’s house, where some of us stayed over the weekend.
Columbus Circle in Manhattan — Near a subway station I use pretty much every time I’m in New
York. Several of my kids and I used coffee from that location to warm us as we walked through Central Park on the super-cold (to me, anyway) day after Thanksgiving last year.- The coffee shops in Barnes & Noble — Yeah, I know these aren’t technically Starbucks locations (they don’t accept Starbucks coupons for that reason). But they do "proudly serve Starbucks coffee," and they loom large in my own Starbucks legend. That’s where it all started for me, as documented in the early days of my blog. Being ignorant of the way business works, I worry that somehow the Starbucks corporate woes might indirectly affect some deal that Barnes & Noble has with them. May it never happen, because Barnes & Noble bookstores are my favorite places to drink the coffee, while browsing (but seldom buying — you don’t have to tell the Barnes & Noble people that, though). My two favorite such locations? Harbison, and the one at exit 247 on I-81 in Harrisonburg, Va. — a great place to stop on the way to PA.
As for which ones they should close? I have a list, but I don’t wish to see anyone lose his or her job, so I’ll keep it to myself for now. Let’s just if something has to go, I suppose I could live without any that compete a bit too closely for customers with any of my favorite locations…
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For all I care, they can close all of them down. Why someone pays money for watered down burnt beans is beyond me.
“Watered down?” Now that’s ONE thing I don’t believe I’ve heard Starbucks accused of. I’ve always found their coffee — whatever the variety — to be pretty strong.
That’s in caffeine terms, I mean. I suppose you could always make it TASTE stronger by adding chicory, New Orleans-style. If you were so inclined….
I read my wife that article today and the first thing we did was start guessing if any of the Columbia stores would close. We agreed that 5 Points, Vista, and Trenholm Plaza all seem sufficiently busy every time we visit to warrant their survival.
Speaking of Columbus Circle, there are at least a couple of places I can think of in Manhattan (59th and Lex comes to mind) where you can sit in one Starbucks and see another one from where you sit. Now that’s ridiculous.
Our favorite in this area is actually the one at the Baxter Village exit in Ft. Mill off I-77 just south of the border. Gives me the caffeine I need before visiting my mother (bless her soul) in Charlotte, or rewards me before starting my drive back south. Plus if driving through, treats for our dog.
I’m with ya, Bill C. I’ve yet to have a good cup of coffee from a Starbucks, and I dring LOTS of coffee.
Actually, I drink lots of coffee. As far as I know, I’ve yet to dring anything, other than that sentence in my post above.
How about one of THREE in this mall in florida?
http://www.thegardensmall.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=directory.flash&x=7503882
One of my favorite New Yorker cartoons is of two guys sipping coffee at a table. One asks:
“Are we at this Starbucks, or the one across the street?”
Ba-dump-bump.
I hope Trenholm Plaza will be o k, too. I suspect Village at Sandhills may take a hit – don’t they have three there now? Keep us informed!
I would be shocked if the Starbucks on Gervais Street closes. My morning walk to get my $3 fix would quickly come to an end. But I suspect at least 3 stores in the Columbia area are likely to go. Several are very close together and it doesn’t seem like the type of business Columbia can support in such huge numbers. I ranked the Starbucks from most to least likely to close. All I’ll say for now is the Gervais Street Starbucks is least likely.
Maybe the Sherlock Holmes Pub can reopen in their former location when the Main St. renovation caused concrete to fall into the restaurant forcing the pub/restaurant to close.
A Starbucks is planned to open with the Sheraton.
Main St. should have local merchants providing uniqueness to downtown. What’s the draw to having something located in Anywhere USA?
My daughter tells me there are three with a few blocks of each other in Charleston. Probably one…or two…of those will get the axe. But then maybe not. It is tourist area.
I know WVa. has them in travel plazas along the interstate. Maybe a few of those.
The highest concentration I can think of in our area is on Harbison, where there are four within a few hundred yards of each other (if you count the Barnes & Noble, which I think ought to count if we’re talking market saturation): The one in the Mall, in Target, the B&N and the one right smack in front of the B&N, which reminds me of the related phenomenon of having a McDonald’s right in front of a Wal-Mart that has a McDonald’s.
Wait — that Target DOES have a Starbucks, doesn’t it? I get them mixed up. Some do, some don’t.
The Starbucks-in-a-Target thing leads to duplication in a lot of places across the country. My daughter worked for several months last year in a brand-new Starbucks in a brand-new shopping center in a small town in Pennsylvania. The new shopping center also contained a new Target, which also contained a Starbucks. All at once, that town went from having no Starbucks to two, right next to each other.
This is a pretty big economic story and we’re treating it as a sort of game. Which Starbucks will close? When will this happen? How will this affect my coffee habit? Yet those are trivial questions. What is most important is the loss of thousands of jobs. 600 stores is no small matter. And it’s also worth noting how important this is psychologically. Losing a good corporate citizen like Starbucks reflects on the overall health of our nation.
We’re cutting back in many ways and apparently one of those is the luxury of expensive coffee. What’s next? Apparently the mgazine business is off. The Capitol News stand (or whatever it was called of late) is gone. Rising High on Main Street is “closed for remodeling”. Will they ever re-open? Will Panera’s and Atlanta Bread Company cutback as people can no longer afford gourmet sandwiches? How about the Designer clothes stores? Can we afford $100+ jeans in an era of $4/gasoline? Can folks still afford that expensive granite countertop or 42″ TV?
Thanks to the botched management of the economy by the GOP we’re now in a mess economically. If it wasn’t for big spending by government agencies we’d certainly be in a full blown recession right now. Thank you very much Mr. Bush. You and your neo-con cronies are simply the worst bunch of scoundrels ever to occupy the White House.
The decision by Starbucks to scale back comes at no surprise given the monopolistically competitive market and economic downturn. Starbucks successfully used market characteristics and consumer behavior to its advantage over the years. But the slump has a reverberating effect on consumers’ price sensitivity across virtually all goods and services, as many are switching away from luxury items to inferior goods, which I’ve discussed on http://peppercomblog.typepad.com/ in greater detail.
The decision by Starbucks to scale back comes at no surprise given the monopolistically competitive market and economic downturn. Starbucks successfully used market characteristics and consumer behavior to its advantage over the years. But the slump has a reverberating effect on consumers’ price sensitivity across virtually all goods and services, as many are switching away from luxury items to inferior goods, which I’ve discussed on http://peppercomblog.typepad.com/ in greater detail.
You know, bud, if the GOP is causing 600 Starbucks coffee shops to close, all I can say is God bless the GOP.
I rank Starbucks dead equal with bottled water as a waste of money.
Those tax increases on working people by the Democrats are already hurting people. Wait until they repeal the Bush tax cuts for the middle class, and Obama slaps on his proposed mandatory $2,500 healthcare “contribution” on working families.
McFarland,
You just opened up another Brad Warthen hypocrisy – he loves Starbucks at $2.00 a cup, but thinks bottled water is stupid at any price.
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