Watch Out Brick Store, Here Comes…Starbucks?
Decatur Metro | January 24, 2012This is all over (what’s remaining of) the Atlanta blogosphere this morning, but Alex was good enough to send it along last night. Reuters reported late yesterday that Starbucks will soon begin selling beer and wine at some locations around Atlanta and Southern California. Here’s a blurb…
Starbucks is planning to add beer, wine and food such as savory snacks and hot flatbreads to the menus in four to six outlets in both Atlanta and Southern California.
The world’s biggest coffee chain started selling those items at a Seattle cafe in October 2010. Five stores in the Seattle area and one in Portland, Oregon, now offer the extended menu.
Interesting that the new test locations are Atlanta and S. California, no? Do we have a drinking problem?
Anywho, the obvious question is – will the downtown Decatur location be one of these test locations? That’s currently unknown, but I’ve heard rumblings over the last couple months that Starbucks employees have been telling patrons at the downtown location that the store would be closing for at least a month for a renovation some time in the near future.
Could they be related?
Latest from Decaturish
Snob people swilling snob beer. Priceless.
Funny…that’s a pretty snobby statement in and of itself.
I believe it was David Brooks who once opined something along the lines of “America, where everyone has the freedom to find ways to feel superior to everyone else.”
I think Freud called this the narcicissm of small differences
I can’t think of anything more mainstream, middle class than a Starbuck’s. They are everywhere: Small towns, next to Waffle house on the interstate, etc. They stopped being snobby at least a 1000 stores ago.
+1
Next up…espresso growlers!
I believe Dancing Goats already has these!
D-oh!!
I hear that Starbucks will be closing for about five weeks around maybe April, but that the major renovations are merely part of the corporate routine. However, it seems to be an ideal location for a wine bar as it can take advantage of the overflow from all the packed-to-the-rafters pubs.
I like the idea if it means that Starbucks will be open later. I’m still always in search of a nearby, quiet well-lit place to work out of the home late at night. Of course, the presence of alcohol may prompt Starbucks to dim their lights and change the atmosphere which would negate the benefit for me.
I would see no reason for them to dim the lights and get all bar/cocktail lounge feel. In Europe it is common to serve beer and wine in cafes where people drink a coffee type beverage while sitting next to another having a beer. Even McDonalds fast food places serve beer and wine. It is just a choice – no reason to change the overall feel that people are familiar with just because you can now order a beer.
And don’t forget Java Vino across from Manual’s Tavern. They serve good coffee and good wine in a very European atmosphere!
Is it brightly lit inside? With my increasing presbyopia, brightness so I can read and work is key in my choice of late night coffee places.
I’ll be interested to find out if this location will have beer and wine. It’s such a small space — I wonder if Starbucks has ideas for creating more seating room in spaces like this if they’re going to serve alcohol.
Obviously, with beer and wine you can’t get things ‘to go’ like with the other beverages in the case that there’s no place to sit. And Starbucks stores tend to attract people who spend hours occupying the precious-little seating with laptops. So…will the beer/wine locations end up having a no-laptop policy in order to create seating for imbibing guests?
I don’t have anything against big chain coffee stores. Personally, I find Carribou to provide far superior beans/roasts than Starbucks. Every bean I get from Starbucks tasts bitter/over roasted.
That mini-rant aside, with all of the options in Decatur for booze I can’t imagine why I’d ever purchase it from Starbucks. People in other locations might feel differently.
I agree that Caribou coffee is much better and I use the drive-thru at N. Druid Hills and Briarcliff a lot. It’s a drive vs. walk for me plus is more crowded (for good reason) and more dimly lit than Starbucks. But now that I realize it’s open real late, I’ll probably consider it more often as a late night hangout.
I can’t explain why, so basically there’s not much rationalization behind it, but I just don’t care for this idea. Java Monkey has a wine bar and I don’t have any issue with that, it’s actually not even really noticeable. Just different types of customers in each place I guess. How’s that for stereotyping!
But whatever, this Starbucks decision doesn’t affect me because I it’s the place of last resort for a coffee and I only get it when I’m not close to Chocolate or Java Monkey. Like JB, I don’t care for the taste of their coffee or drinks made with it, it tastes like it’s been sitting and burning all day.
Ok, so…you don’t care for the idea of Starbuck’s serving alcohol – even though you admit you don’t patronize them and a place right around the corner (Java Monkey their competitor) does sell it, but you don’t even notice it. Sorry, but I do not understand your rationalization….
Re rationalization: She admitted upfront that she didn’t have one!
It’s just how she feels about the brand.
You ALL are more upscale than I am. I remember when Metro Atlanta had few coffee choices compared to the West so even Starbucks is a joy to me. Dancing Goats, Java Monkey, Caribou, Chocolate, and Kavarna’s are icing on my cake.
The one that shocked me was when McDonald’s started serving lattes. The scarey thing is that I can actually drink them. They are better than those automat type lattes.
I am certainly not a big fan of Starbucks – rarely go in there – but just not being a fan of Starbucks brand should not make a person want them to be prohibited from selling alcohol when their competitors do.
I think she just doesn’t care for the idea as in probably won’t patronize it vs. thinks it should be prohibited.
Now, where I will have a problem is if Chick Fil A starts serving alcohol. That is the after school home for many a middle and high schooler and I don’t want them tempted by anything but milkshakes!
Not to worry, Karrass– Dancing Goats would be more likely to serve Starbucks coffee than Chik-fil-A would be to serve alcohol. I don’t see Truett Cathy ever allowing his stores to sell booze!
How about cocktails and fairy tales at Little Shop? They might as well get in the act…
Kurt Vonnegut used one r, not two. His concept of “karass”, a network or group of people that unknown to them, are somehow affiliated or linked, seems to have foreshadowed listservs, yahoo and google groups, Facebook, and blogs on the internet. I just noticed that some firms have used Karass as their name or part of their name, firms that stress networking–e.g., one is a creative agency and another is a financial firm. I love the concept of karass but not how it is pronounced. So I have shed that identity even if some still know me that way………
I realize your new name is here to stay, but when I “see” you, you’re still Karass to me. And I do mean that in an endearing way. Silly enough, I never put your pen name and the other meanings together before you mentioned it a while back. I just kind of assumed your name was Kara the ss, were your initials. I’m starting to wonder if Smalltowngirl, is not her real first name either. My world will be shattered if I find out otherwise.
Hmmm. Kara S.S. That might work. I like it! We’ll see. I don’t find it easy to switch identities around even though I’ve tried it a few times since I learned that some do it all the time.
The name “Girl SmallTown” has a very 60s/70s commune sound to it!
Whoa… definitely not supporting any sort of prohibition for sales, anytime or place ever, not even of “funny” cigarettes for medical purposes.
Like I said there’s really not a hardcore rationalization, it will just make it an even less attractive option than it already is for me.
I didn’t explain myself well and I doubt this will be much better, but I spent enough time in there this month using up the $25 giftcard I got for Xmas, and my opinion is it’s slightly more self-absorbed/pretentious crowd than the other places I regularly frequent. Add alcohol on top of that, and now not only are people hogging chairs for their purses and laptop cases, but now they’ll be talking louder and even more oblivious than normal because they’re buzzed. That’s not the environment I want to take a timeout in and enjoy a book, and coffee for a minute. But if they want to sell it, they should certainly be able to. It is a place of last resort resort for me, so I doubt they would care what I think.
I guess this means college kids under 21 will no longer be able to work at these locations.
I think it’s 18 to serve beer and wine. 21 for the hard stuff.
They can work there but they can’t pour or serve without a permit from the city.
Unless things have changed, you don’t have to be 21 to serve alcohol. I was merrily serving it in Georgia at 18.
“um, yeah, i’d like a skinny grande pbr with extra suds”
You all dislike Starbuck’s for the wrong reason. They over roast their coffee. That has nothing to do with status or class. It’s all about the coffee!! Dancing Goats and Aurora are the real deal.
Re: “They over roast their coffee.”
Totally agreed. Over-roasting effectively “burns out”, literally, the origin taste, so it doesn’t matter where the beans came from or what the growing season was like. Like all chains, they strive for uniformity from one location to the next.
Personally, I like variety and origin taste in my coffee. I always opt for the lightest roast possible at local coffee places. My favs in and around Decatur are Dancing Goats, Java Monkey, and Urban Grounds.
What I don’t understand is this. Karvana uses Dancing Goats coffee, right? However, something gets lost in translation because I like the coffee at the Dancing Goats store, but the coffee at Karvana tastes burnt or stale.
I should also mention, I guess, that Karvana also serves beer and wine and it doesn’t seem to impact the vibe at all.
Would rather have a Dunkin Donuts in Decatur than the Starbucks. But I’d still go to Java Monkey 99% of the time.
I’d love to see a donut shop in Decatur. Although it’s extremely unlikely, wouldn’t it be awesome if a store like ColdStone Creamery came back? That was great ice cream. Beats Chick-fil-a and Dairy Queen any day.
I’ve said before and I’ll say it again, the service at that Cold Stone drove me to the brink of insanity on more than one occasion.