Comments on: 176 “death by frapping”

By: Stu's Mum

Stu's Mum — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 08:24:35 +0000

You’re so cute–being all objective! Excellent points from both Clark and Stu. But I do love me some Starbucks consistency when I’m craving my iced, decaf, caramel, macchiato with whip! Just saying…

By: Stu

Stu — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:56:52 +0000

All really good points stud, but it all depends on how you’re looking at it: whether or not the latte is half full or half empty…
1.) That definition is stretching “local” a bit, don’t you think? Having tens of thousands of stores over the world does not fit “local” in my definition just because this is home to them. “Local” is a place that has all if not most of its stores in one area (Local to Seattle, local to Washington State) and has those people specifically in mind when it does business. $.90 of every dollar spent at a truly local place stays within the community, while only $.10 of a dollar stays here when spent at a corporation.
2.) To the average consumer, it isn’t apparent enough that these stores are/were Starbucks, with the exception of the tagline on the door that says “inspired by Starbucks”
3.) That’s true of 15th St. Coffee, but not of the new Roy Street coffee across from Deluxe — that’s a totally new store that became a Faux-bucks.
4.) No doubt about that, but I’m sure it’s not the SAME people complaining. It’s just a “no pleasing people” situation. 15th St. Coffee as Starbucks never bothered me, it’s the other way around. As a huge supporter of local businesses (as in, my definition above) it irks me to see these stores.

I honestly don’t have a single problem with Starbucks themselves, and I do think that a lot of people out there who do are making assumptions. They do a LOT of good stuff for the size of their company — they scored a B on the “Good Business Guide”, only second to local business. That amazing! That included impact on environment, employees treatment, and relationship with their suppliers. So Starbucks as a corp isn’t evil. BUT, when I want to be supporting my community, my Capitol Hill, my Seattle, I do not want to be tricked into not doing so by these very well done imitations. Since Roy St. Coffee went in, I feel I’ve had to go to Joe Bar even more, lol. I’ll also add that I don’t support a business JUST because it’s local. If I hear the quality is iffy, be it the food, merch, staff, or practices, no use supporting that.

By: Clark

Clark — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:26:57 +0000

A couple of points of order:
1). Starbucks IS local. They started here and all of their corporate offices are here.
2). They never made any kind of secret that they were going to be doing this.
3). The stores aren’t new, they were already there.
4). People were whining about how SB was all out of character for the neighborhoods they were in. SB changed the look and feel of those stores to fit the character of the neighborhood (again, announcing their intentions) and people started whining about how they were ‘infiltrating’ the area.

Even if it’s not the best coffee, it’s a good company and does a lot of good for the region. They offer full benefits to part time employees (who else does that?), give generously, support the gay community and purchase from local coops in the regions their beans are grown in.

By: speaksick

speaksick — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:01:38 +0000

YES.

ILU STU.

By: Anti-Breeder

Anti-Breeder — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:40:46 +0000

I thought Seattle’s Best was also owned by Starbucks?

I support its monopoly!

By: Jonny

Jonny — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:07:55 +0000

John D. Rockefeller use to do the same thing when moving into a new market and would use his huge corporation to under cut the local competition until they all went out of business. Then he would reveal his great secret, raise prices higher than before, and tell everyone to “suck it” because now they had no other choice.

By: green-knickers

green-knickers — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 07:08:51 +0000

dude that’s SUCH bs. I hate it when companies do that :/ We have a local coffee shop (one.) but i have to take a bus to get there, and i just can’t make that route for my coffee fix, but i don’t like sb that much either. So i just have tea. I’d rather get cofree though :/

By: wes

wes — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 02:06:38 +0000

i dont like Starfucks at all