@BlogKCThe Starbucks collective is targeting a Blue Springs location near an independent coffee house on 7 Hwy, imaginatively named “The Coffee House.” As always, resistance is futile. The interesting twist here is that it would only be the metro’s second drive-through Starbucks, joining an existing drive-through in Lee’s Summit. A more convenient crappachino fix could shave as much as five minutes off of Eastern Jackers’ morning trek to Downtown or the JO.
Since KC severely lags both St. Louis AND Wichita in drive-through Starsucks, BlogKC vehemently endorses this idea in the interests of civic pride.
Besides, KC coffee houses have bucked national trends and thrived in the shadow of Starbucks. Crave Cafe and Room 39 bookend the Starbucks on W. 39th, and Broadway Cafe shares a wall with the neighboring Westport Starbucks.
well, get your coffee at starbucks, a company that
screws coffee bean farmers around the world, if you
like, and hell, burn more fossil fuels while your
at it by taking the drive through, but your coffee
will still be lousy compared to that of the crave cafe,
room 39, and broadway cafe.
The Jocos must be furious that they aren’t getting the latest and greatest suburban perk first!
I’m all for supporting local guys (I usually go to PT’s), but if not for Starbucks, there probably wouldn’t be more than one or two coffee places in the entire city. Starbucks pretty much created the market for over-priced coffee drinks that allow independent shops to thrive.
So even though it’s cool to hate on Starbucks, we’d probably be stuck with QuickTrip coffee without them.
Hippster, that may be true in some suburbs, but most of the current coffee houses in the city were in place long before Starbucks showed up. But I suppose in some general sense Starbucks has promoted an overall coffee culture on a national level.
i agree with you, hippster. in kc, there were plenty of coffee shops that were around way before starbucks came to town, and now that starbucks has entered the kc market, some of those coffee shops have closed their doors. muddy’s on 39th closed after starbucks came in, as did the supreme bean. whether there is a direct cause/effect relationship there, i don’t know, but to say that starbucks opened up the market is like saying mcdonald’s opened up the burger market in kc.
Stranger, Supreme Bean didn’t close. The previous owner took a job out of state and sold the business to another guy who changed the name to Crave Cafe.
Muddy’s closed all but their original 51st St. location, but it didn’t have anything to do with Starbucks. The 39th St. Muddy’s was always busy. It’s already been replaced by another coffee house.
I can’t think of any KC coffee house that has closed because of Starbucks.
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