Comments on: De-yuppification

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:09:25 +0000

They needed to look at the McDonald’s model, which is one of the things they do properly. There are hard and fast rules about siting a McDonalds and they work.

The original Starbucks down here is a great location for a sign, but a terrible location for a business because of the traffic. People can see you, but it is a real pain to get to you and it isn’t close to any residential, office, or major shopping areas.

I don’t doubt there were initially good sales as people wondered what Starbucks was all about, but you need a regular clientele to support a business.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:03:59 +0000

I worked as a Starbucks barista many moons ago. I like their coffee, I like others better, but it is good. I don’t, however, like their marketing practices of monopolyzing the market…think that has finally come back to bite them.
I made my own Starbucks card “treehugging cookie jill saves the world” and use it on occassion, however, I mainly go to our local java joint Coffee Cat. I upped my patronage of Buckos right after the right wing whackjobs took to saying that Starbucks is going XXX with going back to their original logo.

The folks at the top, like so many other corporate entities, lost touch with their customers and the reality and made some really boneheaded decisions. IMHO. Again, it’s coming back to haunt them. Come on…one Starbucks literally one or two blocks across from the other one? (As San Franciscans can attest) Made for a great guffaw in Shrek though.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:42:59 +0000

My coffee habit began as a way to add flavor to boiled water, a precaution in the days before water treatment was wide spread. It matured in the military, which makes most civilian coffee watery by comparison.

This is a military town when there are no tourists around, and the coffee at Starbucks isn’t bitter or burned enough to be real coffee.

There is no foot traffic outside of the one mall that is dying.

By: LadyMin

LadyMin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 15:27:41 +0000

I like Starbucks. They have a good brand and good coffee. And a horrible expansion program. Someone was not doing their research. High end coffee houses in middle class neighborhoods wasn't going to do much for their earnings. In downtown Chicago we have a Starbucks every few blocks. There is one in my office building and I pass another one on the walk to my office from the train. But they are always busy. High denisity of foot traffic and lots of people with disposable income are a good combination. Duh. That said... I usually make my own Starbucks. I buy the beans on sale at the grocery store and brew my own. Including cold coffee and Frappuccinos.