Fascinating article at Slate.com about what really happens when a Starbucks moves next door to a local coffee shop.
It's assumed that national chains drive out Mom and Pop stores. In the case of Starbucks, that has been the exception, not the rule. Instead, as one of the shop owners quoted in the Slate article says: "They'll do all of your marketing for you, and your sales will soar."
Ever since Starbucks blanketed every functioning community in America with its cafes, the one effect of its expansion that has steamed people the most has been the widely assumed dying-off of mom and pop coffeehouses. Our cities once overflowed with charming independent coffee shops, the popular thinking goes, until the corporate steamroller known as Starbucks came through and crushed them all, perhaps tossing the victims a complimentary Alanis Morrisette CD to ease the psychic pain. In a world where Starbucks operates nearly 15,000 stores, with six new ones opening each day, isn't this a reasonable assumption? How could momma and poppa coffee hope to survive? But Hyman didn't misspeak—and neither did the dozens of other coffeehouse owners I've interviewed. Strange as it sounds, the best way to boost sales at your independently owned coffeehouse may just be to have Starbucks move in next-door.
Read the whole thing.
