“When is a Starbucks not a Starbucks? When it’s a 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea.”
That’s right, the same company that made its name offering cookie-cutter storefronts all over the world has decided to rethink its strategy and rip-off the unique, local shops its been putting out of business for years.
The test store “will open next week, the first of at least three remodeled Seattle-area stores that will bear the names of their neighborhoods rather than the 16,000-store chain to which they belong.”
It will also sell beer and wine, “in the spirit of a traditional coffeehouse,” have live music, and “sell espresso from a manual machine rather than the automated type found in most Starbucks stores.” What will the store not have (aside from a soul)? The Starbucks logo.
Local coffee-shop owners are naturally asking, WTF?
