Much has been made of the schadenfreude of coffee snobs at the downsizing going on at Starbucks. To these people, predominantly lefties who have a problem with capitalism, Starbucks is the Wal-Mart of coffee, the caffeine-selling behemoth that puts your local hippie coffee shop out of business.
I was in Athens, Ga., my old college town, for a football game a couple of years ago and ran into a protest prompted by news that a Starbucks would be located near some tie-dye coffee joint downtown. Big corporation and conglomerate were just two of the words used on fliers and signs around town to describe the hated Starbucks.
It seemed lost on these protesters that Starbucks, not too many years ago, was a local one-off, long-hair, tie-dye coffee shop in Seattle. Through hard work, a good product, good marketing and one of the greatest logos ever created, it grew. And it grew in a way that lefties should appreciate, with a green, folkie, alternative music kind of vibe, and generous benefits for employees. Still, it grew. In short, it was successful in a capitalist venture, and that’s just unacceptable for some people.
So, all you local coffee shop entrepreneurs out there, don’t try to grow or increase your business. Don’t open another store and head down the road to chain-store bondage. If you do, many of your most faithful customers will call you a sellout, or worse, a success.
