Posted on 07/29/2017 12:43:38 PM PDT by Cecily
Too much caffeine does funny things to even the best of minds.
Like when the espresso-sipping leaders at Starbucks said the revolution they sparked in coffee would happen with tea, too.
In 2012, the Seattle-based giant struck a $620-million deal to buy Teavana, a mostly mall-based tea retailer that was built from scratch by Atlanta couple Andy and Nancy Mack.
A measly five years later, Starbucks has announced it will close all 379 Teavana stores in the coming year. That includes seven in metro Atlanta (Lenox Square, Phipps Plaza, Cumberland Mall, Perimeter Mall, Mall of Georgia, Northpoint Mall and Town Center at Cobb).
Teavana – originally envisioned as a melding of tea and nirvana — isn’t living up to its name for the bean folks.
The problem, as outlined by Starbucks, isn’t tea; it’s malls.
(Excerpt) Read more at myajc.com ...
“Sounds to me like the original couple cashed out at a propitious time. Shedding no tears here, for either the couple or for Starbucks.”
indeed. sounds to me like one of those classic win-win situations: entrepreneurs sell out for HUGE bucks to giant leftist corp, and then giant leftist corp loses their whole investment. what’s not to love?
“The decline in sales seems to be the fault of mall locations rather than anything Starbucks has done.”
other than starbucks seriously miscalculated that retail mall stores that sell only dry tea would function the same as their mall coffee shops which sell coffee drinks that can be consumed while relaxing in the their shop dining rooms.
“Will they burn the tea too?”
probably. dumping it in the ocean would seem too patriotic ...
I have a Teavana tea maker. It was a gift, so I don’t know what it cost. But it’s great!
Starbucks is to it’s category of retailing what Microsoft once was to its - a place where the upstart competition goes to die.
For instance Starbucks acquired the west coast bakery/eatery La Boulange. Following that acquisition it put the La Boulange label on it’s storefronts and bakery cases in the stores. I had seen this on Starbucks stores on the east coast before I went for an extended stay in northern California in 2014.
While in northern California I learned what “La Boulange” was actually all about. Where I stayed had an actual La Boulange bakery/eatery. It’s food was fresh & delicious in breakfast & lunch fare and the bakery goods were to die for and nothing like what Starbucks was ever before of since offering.
What did Starbucks get with La Boulange? A name in quality food items; a name Starbucks never lived up to.
Anyone wanting to actually take La Boulange and make something of it would have seen the category it was in was as a competitor of Panera and not treated it as an outlet for Starbucks coffee nor a mere (false promotion) label on Starbucks own food items.
If the U.S were run like China, there would be temporary nationalization of Starbucks, La Boulange and Teavana stripped back out of Starbucks, La Boulange independent but for its coffees offering a better brand like Peets or La Colombe. Instead of moaning of low sales at Teavana stores, capital would have been put in in the beginning, NOT just lately, to grow Teavana stores outside of the malls and grow its tea brand offerings in grocery stores and other retailers.
In the past twenty years giant-corporate acquisitions have done zero for competition and massive direction for sameness and lack of independent companies. Next to come in the Starbucks type market will be acquisitions and mergers making for greater vertical integration of multi-brand product production/label to distribution to retail, funneling every level of revenue to super large outfits and market domination by a handful or less of companies.
Adam Smith was not fond of monopolies, and believed they were unhealthy for a true free enterprise marketplace. I think he would view many of today’s near & approaching de facto monopolies with disfavor and would apply antitrust rules against some of them.
They are trying to blame Teavana’s overpriced tea on mall traffic. When in fact, StarYux bought the company and cranked up the prices. As per usual. Haven’t darkened a StarYux in several years since their idiot CEO started yapping his SJW nonsense! A shame, as I actually liked their iced tea when they didn’t over-dilute it (which was pretty much always).
Dunkin Dognuts sells frozen, pre-made dognuts that they thaw out and fry. Not fresh at all. Probably made months ago. And the few edible dognuts they sell are always sold out. But they have trays full of nasty jelly-filled crap that no one wants. And they ALWAYS put WAY too much cream and sugar in my coffee, and the coffee is always weak. It seems that they don’t trust their customers with the cream and sugar, when in fact I think they would save a lot of money by letting their customers choose how little cream and sugar they want.
I caught the headline walking past my Echo Show today. Later, my husband wanted clothes for a trip next week so we were at the mall. Teavana has been one of the ways I ‘treat’ myself occasionally, and I have an ice tea maker I’ve been using almost daily recently. I stopped in the store and quietly asked one of the clerks about it. The employees found out from the news stories. What a crappy way to find out you’ll be out of a job. They didn’t know when the store would close because the closings will be done randomly. I suspected that when Starbuxxs bought Teavana it would ultimately be a bad thing. I’ll miss it when it closes.
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