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

maybe i should show up in my amg mercedes and wear my goldsuit with a puppy at starbucks, that's how to be noticed.

Did anyone else notice the photo of that Finestone couple? Starbucks should hire them as their poster children. I mean, they are what I think of when I hear Starbucks.

I'm sure they go their at least daily, have the Starbucks mugs, buy the music, give Starbucks gift cards for every possible occasion...

Come to think of it, they probably need intervention.

santa cruiser wrote:

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

you made me laugh!!!

"hbd wrote:
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."

fastr wrote:

<quoted text>Do you bring your own food to a retaurant? It's just etiquette man! OR lack there of..

okay- the guy who brought a Venti Frap-a-cra paccuino or whatever into a coffee house definitely was out of line, but come on, a guy with his wife and kid eating ice cream? He was going to purchase coffee from the establishment and it wasn't like they brought it into a place that doesn't serve food. I mean, at the end of the day it only hurt the coffee house and put another $3.75 or more into Star "bucks".
it wasn't a coffee shop, but a group of co-workers went to a BBQ place and one of them brought a salad in from another restaurant down the block (I thought that was weird) The owner didn't make him leave or say anything more than "A salad in a BBQ joint, I've gotta get a picture of this" and he took the picture. To think- the restaurant owner in LA was more laid back than the coffee shop guy in SC! What's happening in that town?

I prefer Surf City in A-town when I'm home visiting my fam!

Starbucks will still be whipping up kiddie coffee drinks hooking our children and robbing their piggy banks here ?.. O great.

coffee laughs wrote:

<quoted text>
okay- the guy who brought a Venti Frap-a-cra paccuino or whatever into a coffee house definitely was out of line, but come on, a guy with his wife and kid eating ice cream? He was going to purchase coffee from the establishment and it wasn't like they brought it into a place that doesn't serve food. I mean, at the end of the day it only hurt the coffee house and put another $3.75 or more into Star "bucks".
it wasn't a coffee shop, but a group of co-workers went to a BBQ place and one of them brought a salad in from another restaurant down the block (I thought that was weird) The owner didn't make him leave or say anything more than "A salad in a BBQ joint, I've gotta get a picture of this" and he took the picture. To think- the restaurant owner in LA was more laid back than the coffee shop guy in SC! What's happening in that town?
I prefer Surf City in A-town when I'm home visiting my fam!

If you think the BBQ guy was laid back about your friend bringing his food to the restaurant and taking up a chair, you're not very bright. My guess is he was trying his best to shame all of you into realizing what jerks you were for insulting him. He probably needed the money too much to kick you all out, but believe me, you didn't endear yourselves to the establishment with your behavior. I had a conversation recently with a local restauranteur about a party of four, one of whom brought KFC with him and expected to be seated. He had some choice language for them. And he was right.

Money isn't everything. Common courtesy and good manners count for a lot too. If the coffeeshop can afford to refuse the money of people with bad restaurant manners, good for them. I've heard the Lulu's guy is particularly insistent about this. I don't drink coffee, so I don't know, but I do know well enough not to cart my bagel and Odwalla in there to use their wireless.

Sheeesh people. Really. This shouldn't be a matter for debate.

This is a winning soceity. If you can get away with bringing in outside food,drinks you win if asked to leave you lose. every morning I use the winning mouthwash ,toothpaste, soap. Then my coffee french roast thats just the begining then my attitude kicks in. Being a lefthanded individual, I have my own stlye completely so this irks most righthanders. But winning is what it"s all about.

Style

Service at the local-owned coffee shops is often very bad in santa cruz and san francisco and san jose. starbucks service is usually consistently good everywhere. Product quality is only consistently great at santa cruz coffee roasting and phil's (sf).

If the chain stores were truly bad in service/product no one would shop there.

Smart Shopper wrote:

fyi when i pull up to my favourite coffee shop at costco in my metro i usually buy a bag for about 10 bucks. it is all about getting back to basics and saving for the future. Starbucks is all about being seen and what you drive. Buy yourself a coffee pot and program it before you take off in the morning.
Right On. I never buy coffee out, seems such a stuipd waste of money. I would rather save the money. I buy one bag of coffee only if its on sale, i.e. the store brand once a month and if I run out before payday I go without,or switch to tea. I take my own home brew with me in my own cup. Mata tea is also a nice alternative,taste better then coffee and gives you natural energy. Living in SC does not allow for us be to so wasteful with money.

Frequently the coffee experience isn't just about consuming caffeine, but the social aspect of meeting up with friends in a central location. It's fun to run into folks you haven't seen in awhile and say hi and catch up. And many local coffee houses serve unique teas you won't find in the grocery stores. I don't consider it wasteful of money at all - I don't do it every day and when I do hit the cafes, the fun outweighs the $1.95 I fork out for the coffee.

Elizabeth wrote:

<quoted text>
If you think the BBQ guy was laid back about your friend bringing his food to the restaurant and taking up a chair, you're not very bright. My guess is he was trying his best to shame all of you into realizing what jerks you were for insulting him. He probably needed the money too much to kick you all out, but believe me, you didn't endear yourselves to the establishment with your behavior. I had a conversation recently with a local restauranteur about a party of four, one of whom brought KFC with him and expected to be seated. He had some choice language for them. And he was right.
Money isn't everything. Common courtesy and good manners count for a lot too. If the coffeeshop can afford to refuse the money of people with bad restaurant manners, good for them. I've heard the Lulu's guy is particularly insistent about this. I don't drink coffee, so I don't know, but I do know well enough not to cart my bagel and Odwalla in there to use their wireless.
Sheeesh people. Really. This shouldn't be a matter for debate.

no BBQ guy was amused- sorry! It was Baby Blues on Lincoln- they don't care, they're too busy having fun and feeding their customers good food!!! and for the KFC incident, to have "choice language" with a customer isn't the way to go. If you don't want "outside food" brought in, then a. post a sign and b. be a smart enough business person to explain your policy. Customer service is customer service. And part of running/owning a business is being able to enforce your policy and keep your customer at the same time.
I get the restaurant thing, and wouldn't ever think to do that myself because like you said it is common sense- but HELLO- you're on the Sentinel site- seems like most of the world is lacking in common sense. But, a coffee shop is different than a restaurant- I just think there are bigger things in life to worry about than a man buying coffee while his kid and wife enjoy ice cream- I just thought it was a tad extreme.

Santa Cruz Roasting.... THE BEST! what flavor, from individually crafted coffees!

I used to be very anti-Starbucks. Then I spent a year away from here, in the South. I felt out of place there and sometimes I got really homesick. But there was a Starbucks in town, and it was like a little slice of West Coast had been dropped there. Yeah, it's corporate and standardized and all that -- but it felt a lot like Northern CA and I would have gone bonkers if it had not been there. Maybe Starbucks in Scruz is gilding the lily, but elsewhere it's like an outpost of civilization.

You people need to recognize satire when you see it.

I think the bigger picture is that S'bucks thinks that SC is still a good place to do biz - in spite of the localism. The tourist population probably has some effect.

In the end I think you're going to see come coffee shops close. Who really needs to spend $4 for some hand crafted caffine that they didn't even know existed. You have to hand it to S'bucks for creating and entire market that didn't exist. Might as well buy designer toilet paper.....

I can see the occasional splurge and the social aspects, but what about the daily addict on their way to work? Think about it -$4 per day, 5 days per week, 50 work weeks per year. That's $1000 blown on overpriced java - then add to that all of the impulse purchases.... The changing economy isn't going to allow this - unless Daddy keeps paying the bills.

Besides their coffee always tastes burnt b/c of the high caffine content.