List-en up! episode 6: Coffee-shop Culture: Where people go when they get a jones for java [10:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadT: Love it or hate it, Starbucks is here to stay. Though the company’s experienced a recent slump due to tremendous expansion efforts, some would say they’re back on track with the return of former CEO Howard Schultz. How this will affect Starbucks — and, in effect, its competitors — remains to be seen, but the controversy surrounding Starbucks is sure to continue. Some people say the java giant is nothing but bad news for local, independent businesses, while others insist it helps communities thrive.
I enjoyed a cup of coffee at Lazy Daze Coffee House in Irvington on the east side of Indianapolis to find out what the regulars think about Starbucks and local coffee shops.
Rudy: I believe in the locals, which is pretty hard in this kind of business because some succeed and some don’t.
T: Rudy Gonzalez is a fan of the white tea offered by Lazy Daze.
Rudy: I’ve been coming here for about two and a half years. It seems so peaceful. Someone like myself needs a quiet area just to do some studying. I really enjoy it here.
T: Dani Blanchard frequents Lazy Daze not only for their fine coffees, but also because of the employees and customers.
Dani: I was studying and working here and it was a sense of community. I think we’ve lost that sense of community in our hustle and bustle of everyday life.
T: That sense of community was slightly shaken with the arrival last year of a small Starbucks store just around the corner from the already well-established Lazy Daze, which opened in 2003. Lazy Daze owner Jeff Coppinger held a music festival to “celebrate” the arrival of his coffee shop’s greatest competitor.
Jeff: Starbucks is a tremendous benefit to the community. It’s fixed up that corner and it can attract investors. But at the same time, it was kind of rude for them to come in our - I don’t want to say territory, it sounds like caveman – but other independent coffeehouse owners here in the city would never have done that. But the guy sits in Washington and he can make these decisions, and it’s aggressive. It’s good or bad; it depends on what that coffeehouse that’s there already is doing. That’s really the tester: Starbucks comes in and it’s going to let you know whether you have your I’s dotted and T’s crossed, because if you don’t, Starbucks is going to take your business away from you.
T: Coppinger, whose favorite drink is a straight shot of espresso, says unique qualities have helped Lazy Daze compete successfully since Starbucks’ arrival.
Jeff: I knew that when I opened up and if I was successful, they’d come in behind, after they let me do the marketing. When I found out they were coming, I was already totally aware it would either increase my business or wipe me out because there are statistics that show both. I prepared myself to be competitive with them. I was bringing in extra products: I brought in organic, loose-leaf teas — that’s something they didn’t have.
T: A strong emphasis on local culture and arts also helps Lazy Daze.
Jeff: You know, coffeehouses are neighborhood hubs. I don’t advertise my coffee. What I do advertise is music, poetry, and the art hanging on the walls. We do a meet-the-artist once a month. Because people from the neighborhood are most likely going to come here anyway, or Starbucks. The only way I can expand my customer base is to have things going on and events that are cultural, then I can expand outside the Irvington area and have people come and make a purchase and help my business along.
T: Though attracting people from outside the local community with a familiar name has been one of Starbucks’ strong points, Lazy Daze customer Rudy Gonzalez says Starbucks cannot compete when it comes to giving customers a sense of place.
Rudy: What I see when I drive or walk by Starbucks, they have a certain client base that shows up there. Mostly I’d say they’re business people on their way to downtown. They’ll stop in, drive in, and go. There’s no sense of a group that will sit around and converse like here.
T: Cass Audette’s also a believer in local coffeehouses. She regularly buys coffee from Bellevue, Washington’s Belvi Coffee & Tea Exchange.
Cass: When I drink a hot drink, I drink a mocha, and when I have a blended drink I have a Michelangelo, which is cream, chocolate, espresso and mint. It’s very good.
T: Cass appreciates the personal touch that Belvi’s owner, Penny Stafford, puts into her shop’s products.
Cass: She’s an independent and one of a kind. She’s very conscientious about her product. She’s always tasting so that her shots are consistently to her standard, and she uses the freshest ingredients.
T: Cass says it’s hard to avoid Starbucks, especially so close to Seattle.
Cass: They’re on every single corner, in every single office building. They’re just everywhere. They’ve taken over everything. They have exclusive deals with property management companies so every time someone opens an office building, there’s gotta be a Starbucks in there. Or strip malls: they get in there and they’re opening all these drive-thrus so the little coffee shop down the street all of a sudden loses business because you can drive through Starbucks. It’s great for Starbucks, you know, they’re making money and employing people. But it’s just crappy coffee. People should have better taste, especially in a city that has so much coffee.
T: Penny Stafford, the owner of Belvi Coffee & Tea Exchange, is in the midst of legal action against Starbucks. She alleges that the company exploits its power and engages in predatory practices to eliminate competi¬tors.
Penny: Starbucks is now showing its true colors. It is in the ball field of Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s. They pretended for a decade they weren’t, and now the truth is out that that is their level of competition and the level of their quality. But you can’t come out and say that while you’re charging $5 for a coffee. And now they’re pushing this dollar cup of coffee. I think that is the real Starbucks. They’re the McDonald’s of coffee. They should not be perceived to be in my category.
T: She says her shop and Starbucks are quite different, in everything from the colors to the coffees.
Penny: You will not find beige in here, let me say that! You will never find beige in one of my stores. I have a German 14th century piece of art on the wall, and the rest of the place is red- and gold-leaf and black, so it’s very Renaissance-Italian. I have a lot of European customers because everything is legitimate. My coffee is legitimate. It’s Italian-style. It’s hand-batch roasted. Starbucks has little to do with my type of business. They really don’t have a high-quality product. From an outsider’s perspective, you’d think we’re doing the same business. But it would be like you were calling the Morton’s Steakhouse chain and saying “so what do you think you and McDonald’s have in common?” I do have a soul, I don’t just say I have a soul.
(interlude)
T: For those of you who may not have checked out your local coffee shop, Cass Audette and Rudy Gonzalez have some words of advice.
Cass: Try something different, you’d be surprised at how good a cup of coffee can be if you don’t go to Starbucks, you know. Support your local businesses. Some of the local coffee shops don’t have very good coffee, either, but some of them have great coffee, and cheaper, and just as nice a barista!
Rudy: Give a chance to any local coffee shop. These are the people that live and work in the same area who are neighbors to you, and it shows a lot of love if that support is there.
T: Much has been said about Starbucks and the little ma-n-pa coffee shops it competes with, but what about the other big fish? Dunkin’ Donuts has been on the coffee shop scene since 1950. Though not as ubiquitous as Starbucks, the company recently announced plans to expand further into Asia with its first store in Taiwan, and here in America, Dunkin’ Donuts remains one of Starbucks’ fiercest competitors. Loyal patron Rich Dunston of Columbus, Ohio, is a fan of Dunkin’ Donuts’ speed and large servings: He drinks at least 48 ounces of their coffee almost every day while traveling for work.
Rich: Their coffee is so much more available to me on a drive-thru basis than just about any other coffee around, and they seem to be everywhere I go. Although Starbucks has about three times as many stores, I just don’t care for their coffee anymore. Cost is really not an issue: I’m pretty well trained that I’ll have to pay somewhere between $2 and $5 for coffee. And atmosphere isn’t important to me because I don’t spend much time inside the places.
T: He says that Starbucks lost their focus in recent years.
Rich: It seems to me that their management change probably hurt them quite a bit. They concentrated all their energy on expansion. They got into CDs, they got into coffee machines, they got into chinaware: they just lost sight of the product and I got pretty well disgusted with them about three years ago.
T: Though Rich is a devoted Dunkin’ Donuts drinker, he does have an affinity for one small coffee shop.
Rich: My favorite independent coffee shop is a place called Pheasant Creek Coffee in Apex, North Carolina. It’s just a fantastic little coffee shop that serves some super-gourmet coffees down there that they import directly from South America and other countries.
T: It took Rich some time to find that great cup of independent coffee, but like anything else, it was worth the wait.
INTERLUDE
What’s your favorite coffee shop? Let us know by dropping us a line on our website, angieslistpodcasts.com, where you can also share your opinions about the independents and java giants with other listeners. You can also find links to the coffee shops mentioned, as well as transcripts for this and all of our episodes.
Until next time, this is Tristan. Thanks for taking the time to List-en!
