Somethings are worth paying money for, and in my opinion flipping off Starbucks is one of them.
Background
My parents currently own a coffee/cigar store, and used to have another coffee shop in a nearby town. We are all bona fide coffee snobs. We take our own coffee pot, filters, and coffee when we stay in a hotel. We tried 20? 30? kinds of coffee before deciding on the blend to serve in our store. At home, I go through a half pound of a fair trade, organic, shade grown coffee blend called 'Bean Martin' every week.
I kinda like the stuff.
With that being said, Starbucks charges obscene money for what is, to me, really bad coffee. They roast the beans a tad too much, and as a result when they grind then up they overheat and wind up tasting burnt. Bleech! In our shop, we have a bumper sticker on the counter that says "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks". HAHAHAHAHA!!!!
There is another coffee place here that actually has good java. They only have 2 locations, it's all drive through (therefore not really our competition), and their prices are acceptable for retail coffee. For me, the biggest selling point is that they are a locally owned business, and even sell locally baked muffins & cookies (from the same baker we used to use, actually).
Anyways, I've always had a hard time rationalizing buying their coffee when I'm out and about b/c I can get piping hot coffee from our store at, ahem, no charge. See the quandry? But I silently root for them to keep afloat b/c they're local.
Enter Starbucks (aka StarCrooks)
One of the locations for this local chain is in front of a shopping center with a grocery store in it. Said grocery had a StarCrooks inside. Not really any competition for our hero the local coffee business, since drive through customers aren't likely to get out and go inside the grocery for coffee. No biggie.
Then StarCrooks, in their infinite !@$(*&# wisdom decide to close the location inside the grocery and build a brand new buiding, you guessed it, right next to the local chain. Those dirty dogs!!! Corporate America strikes again, trying to push the little guy down!
So What Now?
Well, as I said at the beginning of this post, I feel that flipping off StarCrooks is worth spending a little money on. So, every Friday afternoon during my lunch break, I go through the drive-thru and get a $2 cuppa coffee even though I could drive the same distance and get it for free at our store.
Why?
Well, our store gets 95% of its traffic from the cigars and there's no way StarCrooks can change that. The coffee is just a bonus. This little establishment, though, is likely to go under once StarCrooks opens, and I hate the thought of our area loosing yet another local business.
Remeber: "Friends Don't Let Friends Drink StarBucks. At Least Buy Local!"
"Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks": Why I'm Enjoying a $2 Cuppa Coffee
October 27th, 2006 at 08:51 pm
October 27th, 2006 at 09:15 pm 1161983700
October 27th, 2006 at 09:31 pm 1161984718
October 27th, 2006 at 09:38 pm 1161985111
October 27th, 2006 at 09:54 pm 1161986064
October 27th, 2006 at 10:12 pm 1161987172
October 28th, 2006 at 12:10 am 1161994218
I do go the the local place. But, it annoys me when they close to go on vacation. It's bad business.
October 28th, 2006 at 02:43 am 1162003418
I like coffee. Real coffee. I hit all the local places instead (and happily there are quite a few)- drip coffee with no fat milk. Cheap, less unhealthy, and you'll figure out quickly who has good coffee. Like Peet's.
October 28th, 2006 at 04:03 am 1162008195
October 28th, 2006 at 01:26 pm 1162042017
One thing I do like about Starbucks, the company, is that they offer benefits to part-time employees.
October 29th, 2006 at 02:16 pm 1162131368
That is... unless they'd like to offer me complimentary shares of their company stock. Then that's a different story.
October 31st, 2006 at 03:29 am 1162265363
October 26th, 2009 at 05:48 pm 1256579305
June 6th, 2012 at 11:57 pm 1339027056
March 1st, 2019 at 10:26 am 1551435968