Some coffee fans get grim delight in Starbucks woes
By
Ellen Wulfhorst
NEW YORK (Reuters) - One
coffee drinker's bad news is another coffee drinker's good news,
it seems.
Financial woes at Starbucks
Corp., which is planning to close 600 underperforming U.S. stores,
is evoking glee and little sympathy from aficionados who say
they resent the coffee shop giant and favor small independent
cafes.
"I'm so happy. I'm
so not a Starbucks person," said Melinda Vigliotti, sipping
iced coffee at the Irving Farm Coffee House in New York. "I
believe in supporting small businesses. Starbucks, bye-bye."
"Amen," chimed
in Keith DiLauro, a local caterer. "They went too big,
too fast."
Seattle-based Starbucks
burst onto the national scene in the 1990s and grew to more
than 6,000 locations around the world. But with cups of coffee
that can cost several dollars, it faces a slowing economy and
slowed consumer spending.
"Starbucks has really
created a coffee culture, raising awareness of good coffee,
which is good for independents," said Carol Watson, owner
of the Milk and Honey coffee shop in Chicago. "But on the
other hand, they're on practically every corner, and that makes
it tough on the little guy too."
In Birmingham, Alabama,
retiree Peggy Bonfield, drinking coffee at the Crestwood Coffee
Shop, said: "When a Starbucks closes, it makes room for
a local business to start.
"I consider that good
news," she said.
The schadenfreude of coffee
drinkers drawing satisfaction from another's misfortune is part
of the popular culture that enjoys the downfall of companies
or celebrities, said Jim Carroll, a Canadian-based trends and
innovation expert.
"There are a lot of
people out there who take delight in seeing an icon torn down
by the masses," he said.
Starbucks fell victim to
a rapid change in attitude, fueled by Internet bloggers complaining
endlessly about everything from layoffs to its breakfast sandwiches,
he said.
"Starbucks was a cool
brand, and then all of a sudden it's not a cool brand,"
he said. "There's this new global consciousness that is
out there that can suddenly shift."
CAFE CULTURE
Indeed, said Pye Parson, who hails from Seattle and works at
Birmingham's Crestwood, "Once it went corporate, it wasn't
Starbucks anymore."
New York Web designer Zachary
Thacher, who favors Greenwich Village's cafes, said he avoids
Starbucks. "They've commoditized cafe culture, which is
why I don't go," he said.
The environmental movement
toward buying and appreciating locally grown products has helped
neighborhood cafes and hurt the myriad look-a-like Starbucks
stores, said Judy Ramberg, a consumer strategist at Iconoculture,
a Minneapolis-based trend research company.
The company that began as
innovative is now known for consistency and convenience, she
said. "To me, that's a huge step down," she said.
"You've built your franchise on people who are coming in
because they know exactly what they want."
Precisely, said Justin Sergi,
explaining why he preferred Lux, a cafe in Phoenix serving lattes
with a fern-like pattern teased from steamed milk in ceramic
cups, over Starbucks.
"The people that work
there are very pleasant, but the stores are devoid of any kind
of real charm or personality," he said. "They push
a button, and a machine does everything from grinding the beans
to brewing the drink."
It's not as though Starbucks
doesn't have defenders, "It's convenient," said Anthony
Castro, sitting in a Starbucks near his job at New York's Museum
of Modern Art. "I know what to expect."
In Birmingham, Crestwood
regular Gary Adkins said he felt Starbucks gave employees good
salaries and benefits. But now Starbucks' plans call for cutting
up to 12,000 full- and part-time positions.
Not everyone felt strongly.
"It's just coffee," said Marc Poulin, a systems administrator
at Zibetto Espresso Bar in New York. "If I was an investor,
I'd care."
(Additional reporting by
Tim Gaynor, Andrew Stern and Verna Gates; editing by Todd Eastham)