Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/06/19/starbucks-closing-150-stores.html
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If they have hit a saturation point in some markets I would not be surprised at all.
Mind you I live in Seattle but if I count the instore franchise kiosks I can walk to 5 of them.
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I was on the road this weekend and stopped at a Starbucks as a last resort. The person behind the counter almost didn’t understand my order… I had to repeat myself. “Coffee,” is what I asked for.
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Same here in the downtown area where I work…
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Starbucks is closing 150 stores
As a last resort, my Dear Wife and I hit SB’s on the way across the USA last month on a road trip. One shinning caveat is that they never ask if your Dog Person a service animal, the bathrooms are fairly decent, and they are directly off any freeway as to get right back on the road. The iced coffee was undrinkable though…
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They don’t need them now.
The entire purpose of those stores opening in the first place was to drive out independent coffee shops. Once they where gone, those stores served no purpose for corporate when they had a better performing store 4 blocks over.
Open up a replacement coffee shop next door to the closed starbucks location, and corporate will reboot the starbucks they closed.
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I’m sure the union is fighting for every job.
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This was overdue like 10 years ago, i worked for Starbucks twice in my younger years and i enjoyed it but even back then i was concerned that they were expanding too fast to be sustainable. They’re solely responsible for the implosion of Teavana, a really great chain, as well.
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Aren’t Starbucks at the point now where they’re nesting franchises inside other franchises, so people can order a coffee while they’re queuing for their coffee? It’s seems like their business model is based on this
I find it unsettling to ask for a “long black” and get a confused look and/or asked “what size?”
Happily, the independent roasteries and cafes in the city I live have all but driven SBs out of town. There used to be … 6? 8? Now there are …only two I think. Maybe 1?
Edit: just the 1
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Yup. Same principle as loss leader, spend capital to drive competition out of business and then downsize, consolidate and tell the worker drones they’re shit out of luck and thanks for helping us close the competition where you’d otherwise be able to apply for a new job now.
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Same in Austin, there’s quite a few independent ones that are pretty good and have a steady customer base. At work occasionally we meet certain customers at Starbucks (at their request) and my supervisor always has a cow about it lol.
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That’s like 1/2% of all their cafes. I think Starbucks will be just… O… K.
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Texas Coffee Traders, while not a coffee shop (but then neither is Starbucks), has a nice little coffee bar I hit every time I stop in to restock on beans.
I used to go to some of the local shops to get out of the house when working remotely, but these days I just feel old among all the college students.
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Wasn’t familiar with them, it’s possible i’ve seen them but its easy to ignore stuff like that until someone points stuff out to you. I’ll check them out next time i need to get more beans for cold brew.
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Great source for fresh blends and a lot of the local shops get their beans from them.
Fair warning, the building is hard to see and nestled in East Austin, with inconvenient hours. They also have a sometimes good selection of old machines for sale.
https://www.texascoffeetraders.com/
I usually go every three months or so on a Saturday afternoon when there’s very little traffic down there.
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Close them all down!
Hurry!
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Coffee shops all the way down…
Heck up on Capitol Hill I can walk easily between 3 of the newer upscale ones. One isn’t obviously branded Starbucks and one serves booze. Depending on what you call a walking distance you could count a 4th one in that category.
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But it would be more conveneint if you could walk to ten stores
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edit : thought it was reply to different post.
Even if I don’t count the mall yeah I can walk to 10+ stores. Oddly I don’t do the majority of my grocery shopping at the one a block away though.
