Comments on: Starbucks and small business

By: suzanneartist

suzanneartist — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 12:02:15 +0000

“care about what their customers want? don’t you know the basis of economics?
profit.”

I don’t understand this comment as a small business owner profit is important to me too as I would be out of business otherwise. No profit, no job. And if your product or service sucks you could be in trouble. . .

By: suzanneartist

suzanneartist — Sun, 01 Jul 2012 11:59:57 +0000

I appreciate this commentary based on fact. To me it seemed Starbucks was taking hits that were unfair. Starbucks offers health insurance to all their employees even part-time employees because the founder, who’s Dad became an unemployed truck driver and the family suffered greatly from loss of insurance. HE REMEMBERED WHERE HE CAME FROM. This is why I do go to Starbucks and pay a little extra at times. I also go to Dunkin Donuts but notice the employees barely speak english and have tip jars out. This concerns me. I’m all for Mom and Pop shops surviving too, but balance is key.

I’m not a fan of all chain stores and do embrace diversity, but Starbucks has been a haven for me on my lunch hour to conduct my creative business via wi-fi in a comfortable chair. What I like about Mom and Pops is the ability to show one’s art work in their arena, and again the uniqueness of the place. My only concern some Mom and Pops I’ve come across were cleanliness, and lack of support from owner when trying to hang a show and advertising THEIR coffee shop WIDELY to bring in customers for more support to them, as well as to see my art.

By: valerie

valerie — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 08:05:59 +0000

care about what their customers want? don’t you know the basis of economics?

profit.

By: David Warner

David Warner — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:59:04 +0000

Simons is wrong when he argues it was only in certain U.S. cities that Starbucks acted aggressively. I know first hand several “mom and pop coffee shop owners in England who were verbally threatened and intimidated by Starbucks in the UK. I expect this policy is worldwide and still continues.

By: jimscafe

jimscafe — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 04:48:57 +0000

The statement ‘Simon argues that 20 years ago you couldn’t find a “good” cup of coffee anywhere, until Starbucks came along and “created a desire and a taste for specialty coffee” that eventually gave birth to the corner specialty coffee shop.’ is clearly untrue.
In the 70s and 80s coffee shops abounded, good ones, often attached to a small book store where customers could browse books and drink good coffee.

By: Michael Elliott

Michael Elliott — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:57:51 +0000

Starbucks started just the same way any other “Mom & Pop’s” coffee shop starts…determination, hard work, great product. They quickly became successful because they care about what their customers want!

By: bob

bob — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:46:46 +0000

I don’t know about them killing the “Mom and Pop” Stores, but I do know that their coffee has always been cheap, burned and crappy tasting beans for a premium price.

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:40:02 +0000

In my experience the Starbucks baristsas, while friendly and cheerful, usually do not know how to make a good espresso any better than smaller shops. Perhaps returning to their original business model will be good for them, if their original market was the connoisseurs.

By: Wray Rives, CPA

Wray Rives, CPA — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:35:06 +0000

I have worked with hospitality clients for 20 years and in almost every situation, competition in food service is good. Variety tends to drive more business for everyone. The folks who complain that competition drove them out of business usually did not put out a very good product to begin with.

By: Nikkei 225

Nikkei 225 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 12:15:46 +0000

Didn’t fastfood chains like Mc Donalds, Burgerking and Pizza Hut face the same problems when they started business? Like you said there’s a long history of anti-chainstore feeling in this country. I believe that if you want a quick decent cuppa joe then Starbucks is the place to go, but for a gourmet coffee you go to the smaller coffee shops.