Imagine my surprise when I saw that someone was finally tearing down Hoboken's own Fabco Shoes — New Jersey's disastrous equivalent to a Payless Outlet store. My mind drifted... What could they possibly be putting in its place? Perhaps an Urban Outfitters or another much-needed dive bar? Delight soon turned to disdain when I noticed the "Coming Soon" sign: Starbucks. The third Starbucks in my tiny one-square-mile town of Hoboken. Everyone and their mom has an opinion on the coffee franchise. Here's mine:Manhattan alone has 200 stores within its 23-square-mile vicinity. That's eight Starbucks per mile. If I were to stand where I work on the corner of 23rd Street & 6th Avenue, there would be not one, but two Starbucks in my line of sight. Ridiculous, right? But I have yet to boycott the establishment. SBs is good for two things: The Skinny Vanilla Latte and their fine offering of Holiday Lattes, served the last three months of every year.
But the one thing that I (and thousands of others, no less) can't get past is their actual "coffee." Their
How does SB even stay in business, let alone build a new franchise every 2.5 seconds? Oh, right. The Pumpkin Spice Latte.
A history lesson for you. :)
ReplyDeletePike Place is here in Seattle, down on the water. The very first Starbucks was opened there in 1971, and it began serving the Pike Place Roast Blend then. Up until 6 months ago, that was the only place that you could get the PPB. Now, it's sold everywhere, which ticks off native Seattle-ites, collectively.
I could care less about where it's served, except for the fact that I lose the thrill of telling visitors that they can only buy it on the water. :)
And Seattle is even worse than Hoboken, it sounds like... I'm out in Lynnwood, which is roughly 20 miles away from the city. On my commute to work, which is approximately 20-25 minutes, depending on traffic, there are 6 Starbucks stand alone stores. That is NOT including the Starbucks kiosks (for lack of a better word) inside the 5-6 grocery stores that are also along the way.
Oh, and did I mention the various Tully's Coffee places (also a Seattle brewed coffee) and Seattle's Best Coffee places? It is literally a war up here about which coffee is the better of the three. Personally, I go to whichever is closer. :)
Anyway, welcome to Seattle. :) Can I offer to take you to Pike Place Market and show you the first Starbucks? Oh, you can get your very own bag of Pike Place Blend coffee, which is only brewed... uh, strike that... brewed everywhere now? :D
Haha, thanks Mandy. :) Good to know! Buuuut, I'll pass on the PPR, not a big fan! IMO, Seattle rocks b/c of its kick-ass music scene, not so much the coffee. ;) We'll go to a concert instead.
ReplyDeletemmm, pumpkin spice.
ReplyDelete