I checked Breaking News at al.com this afternoon and saw the shocking and incredibly newsworthy report that Starbucks will be closing the store just down the street from us, as well as several others in the Birmingham area. 15YOD will be sad, but the people who own the local coffee and sandwich place across the way are likely thrilled.
Anyway. The typical breaking news item on al.com might garner one or two comments at most — unless it’s about Larry Langford, and then there will be one after another, some expressing rational concerns, some vehemently defending the mayor from the evil forces raging against him, and some just flat out racist. The Starbucks story is up to 39 comments at current count (leaving off two duplicates). Most of them are of the “Starbucks coffee is TEH SUCK” variety, and I’m right with them there. Can’t drink the stuff, although I love the chai lattes. However, I’ve always been impressed by the friendly, polite staff and quick service, so I don’t feel the need to express any hatred toward the company.
Not so greywool, who left this uplifting message:
I prefer a good cup of Maxwell House or Red Diamond brewed fresh at home and away from all the hippies.
Community coffee chickory blend is the best IMHO.
But until you’ve had a good pot of coffee cooked over an open fire, you haven’t really had a cup of coffee.
Starbucks didn’t serve coffee. They served drinks with drops or two of coffee in them. Mostly made up of sugary, milky, creamy, goo.
Glad they and their Hippie, Seattle based bunch are leaving.
Hopefully the west coast will soon be swallowed into the pacific and that beachfront property in Arizona will become reality.
Ah, al.com — the place to go to read manly men wishing death and destruction for those not like them. I think I’ll skip the coffee and have a drink instead.
Down here, I could blame Seattle wrath on all the enmity the tanker battle has stirred up. But I don’t know what to say about this guy. I guess sometimes, just not spending your money there isn’t enough. In fairness, I feel the same way about Wal-Mart, although I don’t recall wishing Arkansas would collapse into a giant salt cavern and disappear from the map.
Chicory coffee, ugh. After a lifetime of pretending that, like all good New Orleanians, I loved the stuff, I can finally admit it’s bitter and nasty.
I’m right there with you on Wal-Mart, although like you I don’t wish for a natural disaster to wipe out a significant portion of the population. I guess we’re just a couple of liberal whiners.
I’ve never tried chicory coffee, but if it’s bitter and nasty and the favorite of greywool, I’d think he would love Starbucks.
Being Cajun, I always get a chuckle at folks who assume that all good Cajuns drink coffee with chicory. At our house, the coffee (A&P French roast so my mom could put it through the store grinder twice, until it was almost as powdery as espresso) was always 100% coffee, and made in a French drip pot (stand at stove, pouring small ladles of simmering water over the grounds, and wait–and wait–for the water to flow through. Royal pain, but, oooo, the end result! Like melted chocolate!). No chicory ever dared dart the door. My dad recalled that, during the depression, his mother would have him dump the fresh roasted coffee in a sink full of water, so as to winnow out the chicory that the roasters slipped in to save themselves some money.
Chicory. Nasty stuff. Tastes like soap to me. The only thing that makes it palatable at the Cafe du Monde is the steamed milk.
My husband just reassured me that none of my close-by Starbucks are on the chopping block. He doesn’t drink coffee, but he knows what a part of my ritual life it is!
I’m really surprised the one near us is closing. It’s pretty easy walking distance from the high school, with sidewalks all the way (not necessarily the norm around here), and it seems to stay busy. Also, it’s barely a year old. There’s another one fairly close, so 15YOD won’t go into withdrawal, and I can still have the occasional chai latte or peppermint hot chocolate.
The two 280 locations (one in front of Fresh Market, the other down next to Fish Market near Greystone) are remaining open, much to the chagrin, I’m sure of the CEO of the company and competition I work for!). I’m not sure what the allure is, but I was secretly glad the SoHo location was closing so O’Henry’s will still have a chance down there on 189th street in downtown Homewood, and I guess the locations in the local Barnes and Nobles will also remain open as well–anyone else know??
Seems with the price of gas and milk, high priced drink places (I hesitate to call it a coffee shop) like this would be some of the first things to go off of people’s to do list, but we all have our priorities I guess, and caffeine is one of them for some of us.
I remember reading long, long ago – I think this is when Starbucks first began proliferating, and everyone was marveling at folks paying so much for a cup of coffee – that high-priced luxury items succeed if they are a relatively small expense. The rationale was something like, I can’t fly in a private jet or wear a bespoke suit like that rich fellow, but by God I can drink the exact same cup of coffee he does. (Not long after reading this, I went to the cloth store and bought a pack of the most expensive pins they had, with big multicolored pearl heads. Hey, I’m still using them.)
I think a corollary to this rule is this idea you seem to see everywhere nowadays about giving yourself little treats because you deserve them. I know we’re supposed to be a nation running on our stern Calvinist core values, but every magazine I pick up urges women, at least, to take some me-time, to have the bubble bath with a glass of wine, buy the pedicure kit, the aromatherapy candles, etc. I’m not saying any of this is wrong, but I think a lot of people are plopping down the $4 for that iced mocha latte with a “what the heck, I deserve this” attitude. Even though the same magazine telling you you deserve it also has an article on How To Save $$$ that instructs you to forego the expensive coffeeshop—”get up a few minutes early and make yourself a cup to go at home!” (Right to left: insulated Java Jive mug, Target, $12; designer stainless travel thermos, gottahavit.com. $15… And on the facing page, an ad for General Foods International Coffee.)
Yes, I heard something the other day about eating out and saving–$10 a day adds up to like 3 kids’ college tuition in 15-20 years–if you save it and bag grown it instead of eating out!
I for one make tea and coffee at home!
I usually make my coffee at home too, but I admit to having a cheap refill mug for Iz Too. They make better coffee than I do.
i know they all make better coffee than i do!!!