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Starbucks coming to Brixton

innit said:
Maybe they're less willing to compromise their principles?

I don't really know why you're still on this thread - why should you care what shops we have on our high street?
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Maybe they're just better people. Kinder, gentler capitalists, as it were. :D

I don't really care. I'm just attracted to viewing places where unwarranted hysteria is being displayed. It's a character failing of mine. :)
 
editor said:
Unless you go around and interview them all, you'll never know, but you'd be foolish to assume that every businessman is after global domination.

I can think of several local businesses who are more than happy to keep their scale of operation local and independent.
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Most businesses would like some diversification, maybe more than one outlet if it were feasible.

Businesses like such things because it allows them to retain profitablility, even in the face of adverse developments.

Developments like - a Starbucks opening up across the street from your one and only coffee shop. :D
 
editor said:
Unless you go around and interview them all, you'll never know, but you'd be foolish to assume that every businessman is after global domination.

I can think of several local businesses who are more than happy to keep their scale of operation local and independent.
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I bet you this weeks earnings that the Federation Coffee boys will be expanding as soon as they have a chance. Great name becomes great brand.
 
FridgeMagnet said:
If any of the independent coffee shops get to the level of being able to cross-subsidise outlets and conduct aggressive economic campaigns to shut down competitors... that could be addressed too. Seems unlikely right now.
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When I first bought something at Starbucks, it was a just stall in Pike's Place Market in Seattle. Seemed unlikely at the time that it would become the world leader in coffee sales.
 
editor said:
Not me. I could retire tomorrow if I stuck adverts all over this site, and I've turned down tens of thousands of pounds of advertising over the years.

See? Not everyone is prepared to sell their arses to chase the big bucks.
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I know zero about your business, but I have an inkling that you do alright. :)
 
FridgeMagnet said:
It is not in the slightest difficult to predict the future of a company that has done X and continues to do X in the precise same circumstances. Oh, will they do X now? I wonder, let's see. :rolleyes:
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Go back and follow the discussion I was posting about.

Back in the seventies, when Starbucks occupied maybe 200 square feet in Pike's Place Market, it was difficult to predict that it would be the world leader twenty years later.

That same inability to predict applies to you walking into some small business today and trying to guess its future.
 
First Starbucks in the world.

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Johnny Canuck3 said:
That same inability to predict applies to you walking into some small business today and trying to guess its future.
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A brief chat with the owner and a look around the kind of coffee shop they're running often gives you a pretty good insight into their aims and ambitions.

Some businesses prefer to keep things local, friendly, independent and on a scale that suits them.
 
I don't like the Starbucks coffee, but I like the Starbucks story. What Starbucks proves is that if one is so inclined, it's possible to take a good and creative idea, and become wildly successful. I'm sure it's an inspiration to small businesspeople everywhere.
 
editor said:
A brief chat with the owner and a look around the kind of coffee shop they're running often gives you a pretty good insight into their aims and ambitions.

Some businesses prefer to keep things local, friendly, independent and on a scale that suits them.
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No doubt. The unfortunate fact of life for them, is that by doing so, they leave themselves exposed to various potential setbacks, including the appearance of competition in the neighborhood, a change in the tastes or buying patterns of the people who live nearby, etc.

It's just good business to diversify and to take other steps to strengthen ones position in the marketplace. Those who don't, or don't want to, risk failure.
 
Johnny Canuck3 said:
It's just good business to diversify and to take other steps to strengthen ones position in the marketplace. Those who don't, or don't want to, risk failure.
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Spoken like a true capitalist!

Thankfully, some people prefer to support local friendly businesses rather than switch to predatory, anti-competitive corporate chains as soon as they arrive in town.

And I'll continue to do my bit to support local, small scale Brixton businesses, both my choosing to drink and eat there, and promoting them on the website.
 
editor said:
Spoken like a true capitalist!

Thankfully, some people prefer to support local friendly businesses rather than switch to predatory, anti-competitive corporate chains as soon as they arrive in town.

And I'll continue to do my bit to support local, small scale Brixton businesses, both my choosing to drink and eat there, and promoting them on the website.
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I'm not particularly a capitalist - but the marketplace is capitalism's playground, and operates by capitalism's rules. If an individual starting a business in the marketplace ignores or dislikes those rules, they shouldn't be surprised when they end up taking a hiding.

Non-capitalists will probably be better off getting a salaried job. But if they want their paycheque to be secure, they better make sure their boss is a capitalist who understands the rules. :)
 
editor said:
Thankfully, some people prefer to support local friendly businesses rather than switch to predatory, anti-competitive corporate chains as soon as they arrive in town.

And I'll continue to do my bit to support local, small scale Brixton businesses, both my choosing to drink and eat there, and promoting them on the website.
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And I'll continue to do the same in Vancouver, supporting small businesses as much as possible. But neither will I think it's the end of small business when a Starbucks opens up in some local neighborhood.
 
I don't drink coffee - can't stand the stuff - and have mixed reactions to this news.

On the positive side - this seems to signal that the works to the tube station building might finally, FINALLY be finished after - what - ten years ?! Madness. Also - whether we like it or not, Starbucks opening in Brixton will be viewed as a positive step for the area (if only in the eyes of the outside world), and a vote of confidence for Brixton. Gone are the days when Starbucks were so fringey that they were the coffee equivalent of a Waitrose opening, but it will result in the 'retail' offering in Brixton being more positively viewed by investors/shop-owners. Also - Brixton isn't a proper shopping destination. It's somewhere peope go to buy a single item, or a variety of rather mundane things (from Boots, Smiths etc). It's not somewhere the average person would go to spend a few hours looking at shops - either chains or local ones. Starbucks pitch themselves as a mini Living Room - somewhere to spend time in. If Brixton hopes to establish itself as a half-decent shopping area again (which would benefit locally-owned shops too) then it will need places like that for people to chill/eat/drink in. It's not my thang, but it is for a lot of people - especially those with money to spend.

On the downside, Starbucks are up there with McDonalds and Tescos in terms of signifying the homogenisation of high streets. 'Identikit towns' etc etc. As I don't drink coffee I have no idea what suitable local alternatives there are to them locally, but if there are any nearby they wil doubtless suffer.

In balance I am uneasy about the idea, but I won't take the knee-jerk apocalyptic view of it that others seem to have instantly taken.
 
editor said:
Spoken like a true capitalist!

Thankfully, some people prefer to support local friendly businesses rather than switch to predatory, anti-competitive corporate chains as soon as they arrive in town.

And I'll continue to do my bit to support local, small scale Brixton businesses, both my choosing to drink and eat there, and promoting them on the website.
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Aren't you a windows user? Scuse me if I'm mistaken. If you are then the above is a little rich, so to speak.
 
gabi said:
Aren't you a windows user? Scuse me if I'm mistaken. If you are then the above is a little rich, so to speak.
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Wow. Some bizarre leap there.

I use Windows because it runs the software I need for my job and this non-profit website. Should I pack all that in, then?

:confused:
 
Johnny Canuck3 said:
But neither will I think it's the end of small business when a Starbucks opens up in some local neighborhood.
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Has anyone suggested that would be the fate for Brixton, then?

All I've seen is posts from locals concerned about the impact of a corporate chain with a very dubious history of unfairly crushing competition rocking into town.
 
editor said:
Has anyone suggested that would be the fate for Brixton, then?

All I've seen is posts from locals concerned about the impact of a corporate chain with a very dubious history of unfairly crushing competition rocking into town.
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When I see posts talking about 'thin edge of the wedge', I assume it means something like that.
 
editor said:
a corporate chain with a very dubious history of unfairly crushing competition rocking into town.
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Starbucks can do all the unfair competition it likes - it won't somehow be able to force me to go in there and drink the coffee. Will they be able to force you in there?

Then why not have enough faith in the intelligence of your fellow citizens to assume that they will be able to resist, if that's what they want to do?
 
editor said:
Spoken like a true capitalist!

Thankfully, some people prefer to support local friendly businesses rather than switch to predatory, anti-competitive corporate chains as soon as they arrive in town.

And I'll continue to do my bit to support local, small scale Brixton businesses, both my choosing to drink and eat there, and promoting them on the website.
Click to expand...

editor said:
Wow. Some bizarre leap there.

I use Windows because it runs the software I need for my job and this non-profit website. Should I pack all that in, then?

:confused:
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oh right. I thought from your actual full post you were against mega-corps who operated anti-competitively. Seems I misread! Sorry.
 
Johnny Canuck3 said:
Starbucks can do all the unfair competition it likes - it won't somehow be able to force me to go in there and drink the coffee. Will they be able to force you in there?

Then why not have enough faith in the intelligence of your fellow citizens to assume that they will be able to resist, if that's what they want to do?
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Because they have a track record of forcing out competing coffee stores leaving people with no other option but to go to Starbucks.

There's a local independent coffee shop that recently opened near the town centre, but with Starbucks' vast billions, they've just bagged themselves the #1 prime slot right next to the tube station.

Even with the most 'intelligence' in the world, busy people will generally pick the closest coffee shop to where they're going.
 
editor said:
I use Windows because it runs the software I need for my job and this non-profit website. Should I pack all that in, then?

:confused:
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From what I've read, things got to be that way because Microsoft either crushed or bought out most of the competition.

These feckin' Seattle megacompanies, eh? :D
 
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