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December 12, 2003

Starbucks Has Landed

"I'd like a double-espresso, Peruvian mint-mocha, latté with two shakes of Swiss chocolate bits and a dusting of Mexican vanilla powder.... to go."

"That will be eight dollars sir..."

Starbucks has come to our little neighborhood. I've suspected it was a Starbucks for a while now, but just this week the "Starbucks Coming Soon" signs went onto the small building just around the corner. I actually first heard the rumor at the local Caribou coffee from one of the employees and the more I saw of the building as it was raised, the more that rumor was confirmed.

What's odd is, this Starbucks was built in the parking lot of the new hospital building in our neighborhood, which replaced a few old hotels. Apparently the little plot Starbucks is on used to be an old gas station, which was not sold to the hospital. It might have been a pricey purchase too, since the hospital didn't go for it and because its situated on a main road and is very near the Interstate.

Should be interesting to see how the local traffic flow changes on the main boulevard with no left turn gap in the median where the Starbucks is situated. I can already imagine seeing many u-turns at the next gap going northbound to get to the café. Even more likely are long lines at morning rush hour, blocking the right lane going southbound, which leads to the highway on ramp. But maybe not. It may all depend on how traffic flow works and how quickly Starbucks employees can crank out $4 lattés. :-)

I'll also soon find out if Caribou's few months of already being in the neighborhood will help them compete well with Starbucks. Caribou has a better location overall, being on a corner of two main boulevards, though now I could see southbound coffee buyers maybe going for Starbucks instead. This is going to be interesting to watch.

So, now I'll have my choice of Starbucks and Caribou within a reasonable walking distance of home. I'm hoping that the Starbucks will have WiFi capabilities, but it seems Milwaukee is not on the radar yet... though we are a test market for WiFi McDonalds (which I still need to check out). Once Starbucks has opened up, I'll have to take a field trip.

Have a great weekend all!

December 12, 2003 1:44 PM | Food & Drink | add to del.icio.us