Starbucks coming to Brixton

[Johnny Canuck3]

Anyway, I'm sorry for messing up the thread. I don't even live in Brixton.

I'll back out, and stay out of the way of the caterwauling over the major catastrophe in the offing.

p.s. after drinking ten cups of starbucks coffee, it becomes mandatory to wear cowboy boots, and eat a stack of ten flapjacks each morning for breakfast. It's freaking insidious.

Don't say you haven't been warned.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

No.

Its just shit tasting coffee

So the dirty looks were because your co worker has poor taste in coffee.

What happens if someone wears shoes that match the colour of her dress?

 

[AverageJoe]

Surprising. As I understand it, Americano is espresso with water added. Any starbucks I've been in also sells regular brewed coffee.

Was invented during the war when the US soldiers in Italy would go a little hyper after downing Expressos. So the Italians watered it down, and called it Americano.

 

[miss minnie]

So the dirty looks were because your co worker has poor taste in coffee.

What happens if someone wears shoes that match the colour of her dress?

oh, sorry... pardon me, you were saying....

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

live by the cup die by the cup

 

[brix]

This is depressing because, even with a few chain stores, Brixton retains it's own individual character but Starbucks is another step towards blandville. I also worry that excellent local independent coffee places like San Marino and Federation will lose business as a result. Not good news

 

[Sesquipedalian]

This is depressing because, even with a few chain stores, Brixton retains it's own individual character but Starbucks is another step towards blandville. I also worry that excellent local independent coffee places like San Marino and Federation will lose business as a result. Not good news

They already lose a shed load of business,
By ignoring their customers at the counter.

 

[brix]

They already lose a shed load of business,
By ignoring their customers at the counter.

I've never seen that happen . Perhaps they just didn't like the look of you.

 

[miss minnie]

San Marino is looking resplendent this morning with its smart black and white branded canvas 'fence' surrounding the outdoor tables and chairs. With its new location I think it will do very well this summer.

 

[Sesquipedalian]

I've never seen that happen . Perhaps they just didn't like the look of you.

Yeah,
Maybe it's just me.

 

[editor]

Let me guess: the new starbucks opening up is a toehold of american economic imperialism creeping into Brixton with a master plan of taking over?

It's just a depressingly bland, corporate identikit addition to the High Street with the potential to damage local businesses, Johnny.

Thankfully, we have several independent cafes serving up far superior coffee, but it's a shame to see valuable High Street space falling to yet another major.

I wonder if we'll be getting one of their sneaky 'stealth' shops?

http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/921446/Starbucks-trials-unbranded-stores-stealth-move/

 

[Caroline27]

Think I read they're rolling out their 'local design concept'.

 

[nagapie]

As ed said, there are plenty of local businesses that do good coffee but cannot afford to pay the mega rent charged by TFL for a prime position next to the tube station. They will lose out because of this.
And the coffee is shit.

 

[trabuquera]

but whyyyyyyy are they even bothering?

People who want chain-style coffee can already get it at Caffe Nero in Morleys.
People who want a good caff with food as well as coffee can go to San Marino.
People who actually want to drink the most divine coffee ever brewed can go to Federation (tho admittedly its opening hours are limited.)

I have high hopes that a Brixton branch of Starbucks might be one of their few ventures to fail utterly. Urbanites can boycott it, the coffee aficionados will certainly go elsewhere and the yoof round here might be able to mount a display of really 'unacceptable behaviour' to make Sbux (spawn of the devil) leave.

 

[nagapie]

If it's right next to the tube station, people who would have otherwise gone slightly out of their way to get a good coffee may go there out of convenience, especially when pushed for time on the way to work.

 

[passivejoe]

So where exactly will it be? Where next to the tube is 1000 ft2?

 

[editor]

If it's right next to the tube station, people who would have otherwise gone slightly out of their way to get a good coffee may go there out of convenience, especially when pushed for time on the way to work.

If it stays open late, it'll also scoop in all the Academy traffic.

 

[miss minnie]

So where exactly will it be? Where next to the tube is 1000 ft2?

facing the station entrance there is an empty shop on the right of the steps, before Iceland.

 

[Badgers]

This is depressing because, even with a few chain stores, Brixton retains it's own individual character but Starbucks is another step towards blandville. I also worry that excellent local independent coffee places like San Marino and Federation will lose business as a result. Not good news

Pretty much my feeling. I never go in Starbucks but shame to see another tacky bland corporate setting up shop in Brixton. A lot of people will ignore it but it will be busy I fear. There is plently of good independent food places but McDonalds and KFC are often rammed.

 

[Gramsci]

Let me guess: the new starbucks opening up is a toehold of american economic imperialism creeping into Brixton with a master plan of taking over?

Actually, it's one coffee outlet. Even if there were a hundred, you don't have to go there. If there get to be a hundred, it means someone in Brixton likes the coffee.

Because Starbucks have a reputation for moving into areas where there are already independant coffee shops and pushing them out of busness.I hope we dont get a "Brand" name coffee war like in Soho.

Big chains dont mind paying big rents to get a toehold in an area.

Still I dont think they will threaten Brixton. It wont be cool to drink coffee there.

Can we post up a hall of shame? Pics of people drinking coffee there and ask if anyone knows them?

Urban Coffee Police.

 

[Andrew Hertford]

Because Starbucks have a reputation for moving into areas where there are already independant coffee shops and pushing them out of busness.I hope we dont get a "Brand" name coffee war like in Soho.

Big chains dont mind paying big rents to get a toehold in an area.

That's just what they did in Hertford. We had a small independent coffee shop that applied to expand into an empty shop next door but were denied planning permission. Along came S.bucks and opened up in there anyway in defiance of planning rules. By the time the local authority woke up to what was happening s.bucks were about ready to open and the local authority decided it would be too expensive to take them on.

Most locals won't go in there and happily the small independent coffee shop is still going despite s.bucks being right next door.

 

[ernestolynch]

Coffee snobbery is such a rah-rah issue, ffs.

Have you seen the sort of people that frequent coffee shops.

 

[brix]

Coffee snobbery is such a rah-rah issue, ffs.

Have you seen the sort of people that frequent coffee shops.

Try telling that to the Portuguese workmen propping up the counter of my local coffee shop

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

oh, sorry... pardon me, you were saying....

I was saying lighten up. It's one freaking coffee shop amongst hundreds of other businesses. It's not in fact one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is the impression one might form after reading this thread and others.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

It's just a depressingly bland, corporate identikit addition to the High Street with the potential to damage local businesses, Johnny.rl]

It's one store. Other businesses won't suffer if they have a good product and a loyal clientele. People go to starbucks out of choice, not because they've been enslaved or hoodwinked into drinking shit coffee.

And to the extent that some people in Brixton might want a starbucks because they like the coffee - and that can happen - then there's absolutely no reason why one shouldn't open there.

 

[editor]

I was saying lighten up. It's one freaking coffee shop amongst hundreds of other businesses. It's not in fact one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, which is the impression one might form after reading this thread and others.

It's just local people expressing their concern for the future of local, independent businesses, Johnny.

I think it's rather healthy that people are bothered about this, to be honest.

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

If it's right next to the tube station, people who would have otherwise gone slightly out of their way to get a good coffee may go there out of convenience, especially when pushed for time on the way to work.

Oh my god! Heaven forbid! Starbucks is putting a store where it might be convenient!

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Because Starbucks have a reputation for moving into areas where there are already independant coffee shops and pushing them out of busness..

If that happens, then it means starbucks is doing something right that the other places aren't doing. Maybe better service, who knows?

If that's the case, then starbucks deserves to succeed. If that doesn't happen, then people will continue to go to the places they like. Why would they switch from a place they like, to a place that sells shitty-tasting coffee?

 

[editor]

Here's an interesting spin on Starbucks:

Starbucks kills communities, academic claims

Prof Simon visited 425 Starbucks branches in nine countries, including Britain, over a year and talked to customers. He said he witnessed few spontaneous discussions or interactions. He said the rise of Starbucks and its rivals was a far cry from the British coffee houses of the 18th and 19th centuries “which were the cornerstone of democracy with a small 'd’”.

In his book, Everything but the Coffee: Learning about America from Starbucks, Prof Simon also pointed out that the company’s sense of community was very narrow.

It ensured its prices were high — a latte can cost £3 — and opened only in upmarket areas in order to maintain an aura of exclusivity, he said.

Prof Simon concluded that Starbucks’s success had little to do with the coffee and everything to do with image and identity. “Time and again customers told me they would look at someone carrying a Starbucks cup and assume they were successful and moderately hip,” he said.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/6240788/Starbucks-kills-communities-academic-claims.html

 

[Johnny Canuck3]

Most locals won't go in there and happily the small independent coffee shop is still going despite s.bucks being right next door.

The small independent is still open?

So the sky didn't fall when starbucks opened?