Starbucks won't touch Santa Cruz stores, hundreds others close

ICK ICK ICK...I wish all the Starbucks would close...what happened to Santa Cruz County indep businesses and coffee houses?
Starbucks is too trendy, and the drinks are way too sweet...how about a coffee...theirs is awful, I wil stick to my locally owned coffee houses that big bad Starbucks tried so hard to squeeze out!
Remember Friends Don't Let Friends Drink Starbucks!

How reassuring that as the local housing market remains unaffordable, decent jobs disappear, and workers strike for living wages, an abundant number of Starbucks will remain to provide overpriced coffee drinks to their addicted clientele.

I don't care for Starbucks coffee either, but they use good marketing techniques. I think it is strange that all their shops are staying open in Santa Cruz, a town/community where people are so much against large chains. Maybe this will make the smaller shops realize they need to step up service even in a small business conscious community. ie, I was in a locally owned shop w/ my family ordering coffee. My wife and son were sitting down w/ ice cream from a nearby shop. The employees asked her to leave because they did not want outside food. I left and got my coffee fix next door at starbucks and my family enjoyed there ice cream there.

Starbucks sucks

But then again, the lulu carpenters guy is kind of an ass.

They should ALL close! Starbucks is EVIL!

yeah! At least when I go to starbucks I can get a table. The tables at the local places always seem to be filled with people on computers who use the shops as offices.

Didn't LuLu Carpenter's on Pacific have a policy whereby in order to sit at a table a person had to buy something and not just take up the space studying or surfing the web?

When I go Skateboarding down in Southern Califonia Like I do this time every year It"s always great to have a Starbucks handy just to get in my car rental turn on some tunes burn a bowl and cruise Hunington beach,Goleta Pismo Beach.Those are grat times. I have a Starbucks card just for the occasion.

I wish they would close. I prefer local only shops. Cats in SV is wonderful, better coffee and service by far. Fins on Ocean is also great. I don't waste a nickle at any Starbucks.

The employees at Surf City Coffee are SUPER friendly, the ambiance is wonderful, and of course the coffee is great. :-)

StarBucks never put any independent coffee house out of Business in SC County that didnt deserve to fail. There are Coffee houses all over the county.

Starbucks did set the standard for what a coffee house should be in the 80's and 90's and put thousands of artery clogging donut shops out of business.

Donut shops only survive in the Red State Obesity belt. Dunkin and Krispy Kreme are the last of a dying breed.......If your looking for who killed the coffee house of yesteryear, its the waking up of Americans to the evils of fried sugar coated dough, not Starbucks.

Local wrote:

I wish they would close. I prefer local only shops. Cats in SV is wonderful, better coffee and service by far. Fins on Ocean is also great. I don't waste a nickle at any Starbucks.

I love Coffee Cat, too. Better than any place in the SLV, IMO, and much better than Starbucks.

Coffee cat's cool......
The Surf City Coffee at Mt Hermon and 17 is really lame.....
Not a fan of thermos coffee, and twice there, the bull nose pierced dude behind the counter put the de-caf thermos in the french roast spot....
that's when I quit going

I love these kinds of comments

"I never go to Starbucks......besides their coffee tastes lousey"

Kinda like saying

"I never cheat on my wife......besides all the hookers I sleep with are Skanky....

too funny

Regular Joe wrote:

an abundant number of Starbucks will remain to provide overpriced coffee drinks to their addicted clientele.

I used to agree w/ you, however, it is a fact that you are wrong.

If I get a large ("Venti") house coffee, it will set me back $1.85). Compare that to a large coffee at any of the regular shops w/ the same amount of coffee and you will find it is cheapest. Furthermore, the Pikes Place coffee is pretty darn good.

For convenience during a busy work week, you can't beat Starbucks and their locations. However, for a coffee shop to hang out at on the weekends w/ time to kill, I much prefer some of the local shops such as Bad Ass, Lulu's, Surf City, etc...

Bad Ass isn't local by any means. But it is a small chain started in Hawaii.
Of all the Locals SC Coffee roast has the best coffee, and I love the One cup drip. place is creepy to hang out in

Starbucks won't touch Santa Cruz stores, hundreds others close

So?

I was sitting at Lulu's the other day drinking a Starbucks Venti no foam skinny latte with one pump caramel and two pumps of butter toffee macadamia nut (soooooo good!) when they came out and told me I had to throw it away and buy from them if I wanted to stay. I was just there to use the wireless for half an hour. I paid $4.75 for that drink. WTF? They think I'm just going to throw it away? Assholes. I like their atmosphere better than Starbucks, plus the wireless is free and the bathrooms are nice and clean, but I'm never going back there now. I can't believe they lectured me about restaurant etiquette, like I'm a child or something. Isn't the customer always right?

santa cruiser wrote:

Bad Ass isn't local by any means. But it is a small chain started in Hawaii.
Of all the Locals SC Coffee roast has the best coffee, and I love the One cup drip. place is creepy to hang out in

Yes! Roasters is the best! but what is with that gang of loud, macho, swearing, smokers who are always hanging out front, blowing hugs puffs of smoke around and making the tables outside uninhabitable?

Kona Coffee sucks....

tastes like farmers bros...

give me the dark roast!