January 17, 2008
Pretty Sneaky, Starbucks!
This tickles us ever so. Last year after 4,000+ folks in the Richmond held their breath until their faces turned blue, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to ban the popular coffee chain Starbucks from setting up shop at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Geary. Problem solved, right? Wrong.
Being the crafty little coffee making bastards that they are, Starbucks "had the audacity to sneak a kiosk into the Safeway store at Cabrillo and Eighth." (Hee!) Naturally, people curled up into the fetal position and started sobbing hysterically after seeing the chain serving its poisonous yet smooth brew. That is, until Jake McGoldrick got wind of this near-criminal activity and put his foot down. Hard. The kiosk has since stopped selling coffee there.
But isn't Safeway--a chain itself, we should point out--neutral territory? The Switzerland of retail marketing?
Anyway, Starbucks beans are still, oddly enough, for sale on store shelves at Safeway, which is fine by all, it seems. But pulverizing the beans and pouring hot water though them into differently-sized paper cups is the real problem here? Huh. Curbed goes on to point out that "the final fate of the shop will be decided within the next month, as city planners decided whether the thing should be treated as a separate biz or part of Safeway itself. Tedium reigns." And how.
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Slate just ran this counterintuitive piece (or polemic, depending on your perspective) about how Starbucks can actually increase the market for coffee, and even boost sales at independent coffeehouses.
ck it out:
http://www.slate.com/id/2180301/
I assume that Safeway went through all of the necessary public planning procedures before building their store. Isn't this changing the rules of the game after they've already done their due diligence? This is discrimination, pure and simple. I work near 8th and Cabrillo and will go there EVERY DAY (when it opens again) just to spite the jerks who condemn Starbucks rather than put out a better product.
I was also bummed to not see the Starbucks open in the Safeway.... when I'm in the 'hood, I go to the local chain, Martha & Bros who opened on Clement. but when I'm at Safeway, I would like to be able to sometimes buy a beverage!
I agree with rroseselavy - I don't think they just "popped" this starbucks in after all the permits & planning department ok's were done... shouldn't our wonderful supervisor be asking what happened?
I am astonished that an Olson twin's image would appear with a red "X" over her on a Keeling-edited blog.
Eh, that's not so bad, there's not much out on that strip anyway. Besides, a megachain within a megachain just doesn't seem as irkworthy to me as a stand-alone place in a location that already has a lot of coffee places and not enough supermarkets.
While I don't live in the Richmond, I believe my opinions are relevant.
I live near Noriega in the Sunset, where it's 2 miles between coffee shops. Seriously, there's only 2 coffee shops: House of Coffee at 22nd Ave and Sea Biscuit Cafe at 46th Ave.
So Safeway decided to put a tiny little Starbucks in at Noriega and 30th. It's a pathetic excuse of a coffee shop. It's so tiny, I think I have a larger coffee maker at home than they do.
The independents haven't given us enough friggin coffee. What Noriega really needs is a full blown Starbucks or Peets in between Sea Biscuit and House of Coffee.
I would welcome Peets or Starbucks to Noriega St because it would improve the neighborhood. And I would protest any neighborhood attempt to block such a coffee shop.
DJT, the Ash gained a couple of pounds as of late, so i'm less than thrilled with her.
Thank you sagitta100!! Please, Starbucks, Peets, Tully's, come to Taraval, anywhere between 26th - 33rd. There are so many empty store fronts it's depressing!
What a joke this town can be.
How fucking stupid. It's a Starbucks in a Safeway. What could possibly the problem?
Oh right, stupid fucking assholes in the Planning Department and those pathetic losers who are always complaining.
But isn't Safeway--a chain itself, we should point out--neutral territory? The Switzerland of retail marketing?
Agreed.
I must applaud any legislative bitchslappery of Starbucks on general principle, but in practice this one seems a bit silly.
On the other hand, if you give a sprawling multinational corporation a cookie, it's gonna ask for a double-shot grandé soy pumpkin-spice Frappuccino.
Maybe Safeway was the thin end of the wedge and McGoldrick was just nipping the possibility of any future loopholes in the bud.
corrections:
fifth avenue. not fifth street.
and safeway is at cabrillo and seventh avenue, not eighth.
cheers.
corrections:
fifth avenue. not fifth street.
and safeway is at cabrillo and seventh avenue, not eighth.
cheers.
Actually, it spans 7th and 8th Streets, so you could enter on 8th if you sneak through the loading dock (a trucker cap disguise might aid in your ruse).
In regards to the slate article. I believe it. I never drank coffee until 3 years ago and I can give credit to Starbucks for being my entry into the coffee making world. I still go to Starbucks, but I've sure given a lot of cash to local coffee shops and I'm always up for trying a new place.
Safeway and Starbucks have been in bed together for awhile... It's just too bad that Safeway might be the worst mega-g-store chain. Oh, how I miss Harris Teeter. But, yeah I'd rather go to Food Lion or Piggly Wiggly before Safeway.