The End Of Starbucks as We Know It?

Commercial Observer ^ | March 18, 2015 | LAUREN ELKIES SCHRAM

[ClearCase_guy]

Wait a minute ... wait a minute!

I think I know how we can turn this situation around! What if we passed a law that manadated a $15/hr wage for all barristas? Would that help?

[867V309]

Maybe they can sell their lousy liberal sh!t from a sidewalk stand in the middle of Winter.

F em.

Some people here don't really understand the concept that supporting your enemy is a bad idea.

[skeeter]

I can already read the byline for stories about Starbucks leaving the market - racist America can’t handle honest discussions about race.

[catnipman]

“And I don’t have to say “grande” to order. “

WHAT??? You mean you can just order “coffee” without being forced to speak a line of pseudo-Italian gibberish? How quaint.

[SamAdams76]

True. If you get just the coffee at Starbucks, it's no pricier than what you get at Dunkin Donuts.

Outside of coffee, you are paying about $1 per syllable.

cap-u-chee-no = $4

ca-ra-mel mahk-yah-to = $6

You get the picture.

[doorgunner69]

#STFU!

[rabidralph]

I like their chocolate chocolate chip muffins, though. Although my convenience store sells them for 1/3 of the price.

[ansel12]

Selling on the streets there is not as easy as it sounds because licenses are restricted, my son was doing that (unlicensed) for a few years before opening his store in Brooklyn.

“You can apply for a General Vendor license if the Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) contacts you with a waiting list number. The maximum number of General Vendor licenses that DCA issues to non-veterans is limited by law to 853. DCA’s waiting list for non-veteran applicants is currently closed.”

[ansel12]

They can just reopen their shops in black areas, where the rent is cheaper.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I’m a service connected veteran. That “waiting list” wouldn’t apply to me, as I understand the rules.

[Svartalfiar]

But their difficulty begs the questoin: If even Starbucks, with their overpriced lattes and frappucinos can't afford the rents to put their retail shops there, that does not bode well for other retailers in that space.

The way the article reads, I get the impression that the rent affordability isn't a question of if Starbucks can afford it, but if it's worth doubling their rent when they can find a cheaper place slightly off the main roads. People still Google search 'Starbucks', and will still find them. Now that they're so well established in people's minds, being in the high-visibility, high-traffic areas isn't as needed anymore. So instead of doubling rent costs, they may just close on 1st street and reopen on 3rd.

[2ndDivisionVet]

The City licenses street vendors.

You must have a General Street Vendor License to sell or lease goods or services in a public space. This license is mainly for veterans. The number of licenses given to non-veterans is very limited.

You must have a General Street Vendor Distributor License to transport goods to a public space in order to sell them to a general street vendor.

A license is not required to sell newspapers, books, and similar items, but related City rules and regulations still apply.

http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2938/general-street-vendor-license

[ansel12]

I hadn’t realized that your post 5 was about you specifically, I was thinking it was more general.

[ansel12]

My son is a vet, but I don’t know that there is an unlimited number of licenses for vets.

[livius]

Starbucks has very good coffee (well, depending on the brew you pick - but it’s usually fresh, except for a few sub-par shops). I buy the K-cups of French roast and Verona for home use.

Some of the stores in NYC are sort of horrible (hostile staff, stale pastries) and some are nice, so you have to know which one is okay.

But after this “Race Together” thing, I honestly think I’ll be avoiding the shops. Who wants to go in to get a cup of coffee and have the staff start talking about “race” when all you really want to do is get a cup of coffee and go to work or maybe go sit down and read the paper.

Plus, how is this going to affect the service? We all have to stand and wait while some twit “explains race” to the customer in front of us?

[2ndDivisionVet]

Google it.

[only1percent]

Starbucks margins and traffic don’t sustain those kind of rents. An ex-Starbucks location in Manhattan will become a bank branch (thanks to the Federal Reserve, nothing’s more profitable than taking deposits), cell phone outlet, or a restaurant with higher margins and a stronger evening / weekend business.

[kingu]

They should raise the salaries of the employees to at least $15 an hour too; hey, in for a penny, in for a dollar...

[Dilbert San Diego]

Plus, how is this going to affect the service? We all have to stand and wait while some twit “explains race” to the customer in front of us?

---

And I have a feeling that Starbucks is training their employees to render the liberal view of Ferguson and other racial matters. So you will have to listen to a liberal lecture. I can see service slow way down, if anyone more conservative wants to argue the talking points being spewed forth from Starbucks workers.

[Flick Lives]

The asking rent is $600 per square foot...

Memory of the housing crash from 2006 appears to have vanished. A rental at $600 / sq ft! Insane.