Roasting rivalry

A New Year’s countdown has a whole new meaning for Jennifer Ayers this year. Starbucks Coffee is coming to Ninth Street in downtown Columbia in early 2006, and Ayers and other members of her MU Starbucks group on Facebook.com couldn’t be happier.

“Most towns have a Starbucks,” said Ayers, a sophomore at MU. “With 80,000 people, it’s shocking that the only Starbucks in Columbia is in HyVee.”

Columbia has licensed Starbucks stores in HyVee on West Broadway and at Barnes and Noble at the Columbia Mall. Select coffee shops at MU and in downtown Columbia also serve Starbucks coffee. But fans say those outlets aren’t the same as Starbucks retail stores.

“Other places say they brew Starbucks, but it’s not the same thing,” Ayers said. “You wait in line for 20 minutes, and at Starbucks you don’t have to do that.” Ayers said.

Julia Eubanks, an MU junior and also a member of a Starbucks group on MU Facebook, agreed.

“I’ve always wanted Columbia to get a Starbucks,” she said.

Not everyone in town shares their enthusiasm. When news that the international chain is coming reached local coffeehouses Friday, the reaction was a collective groan. The questions seem to be: Will a chain like Starbucks ruin the local feel of downtown Columbia? Will it hurt the business of some of the smaller coffee shops?

“Once you have a Starbucks added, that’s a big symbol,” said Hugh Crawford, a patron of Coffee Zone. “It’s more what it means when you walk by.”

Downtown is home to four locally owned coffee shops: Lakota, Hamid’s Cafe, Cherry Street Artisan and Coffee Zone. Several other downtown retailers, such as Panera, Uprise Bakery and The Upper Crust, serve gourmet coffee as well.

Starbucks brands itself as “the world’s leading retailer, roaster, and brand of specialty coffee” and grossed over $4 billion in fiscal 2003.

“I definitely know that it is not good for small business at all,” said John Hovious, a Lakota employee. “People work really hard to keep their small business going.”

Many Columbia coffee drinkers agree.

“We want an opportunity to support local business,” Crawford said. “It feels like they are encroaching on normal people’s territory. I don’t want (downtown) to feel like I’m at the mall.”

Alex Johnson, who works at the Cherry Street Artisan, said he is unsure how the Starbucks will affect the current downtown coffee shops.

“There are two points of view.” he said. “If they have the same product and if it is less money or more familiar or quicker, (the Starbucks) could be a problem. The latter point of view is that the Artisan is a better product and a better environment and that our customers won’t want to go anywhere else.”

Erin Timmons and Chrissy Eckinger, regulars at the Cherry Street Artisan, said they will continue going to the Artisan despite the new Starbucks.

“The Artisan would still be our first choice,” Timmons said. “It’s all for the environment.”

Issam Yanis, the manager of Coffee Zone, said he is not worried about Starbucks hurting his business. His store has so many regular customers, he doesn’t think that a new coffee shop would affect his shop.

“I know my customers,” he said. “I see the face, and I know right away what he wants.”

Carrie Gartner, the director of Columbia’s Special Business District, thinks downtown has become large enough to support a large chain like Starbucks, especially since downtown already features a Subway franchise store.

“I think what we’ve all realized is that the District is growing,” Gartner said. “It used to be four blocks. Now it’s 43 blocks, and we need more things. Now that it’s 43 blocks, I think we can handle a new business.”

But some argue bringing another chain into downtown Columbia could ruin the collective mom-and-pop feel of downtown.

“I definitely think that bringing a large chain downtown changes that atmosphere,” Johnson said. “There are other chains (downtown), but they are smaller chains.”

Subway, also on Ninth Street, actually has three times as many stores as Starbucks. The sandwich shop is the largest submarine sandwich chain in the world, with over 24,434 stores in 82 countries, according to Subway.com.

Starbucks fans disagree with the sentiment that another chain will disrupt downtown.

“I don’t think it will hurt the atmosphere at all,” Ayers said. “Downtown has so much variety.”

Ayers thinks the local coffee shops will maintain their customers with their individuality.

“With different coffee places, everyone has their following,” she said. “Starbucks definitely has theirs. I don’t think it will be a bad thing.”

John Ott, who owns the building where Starbucks will be located, agreed.

“Each coffee shop has their niche, and each one has done a good job of making theirs different,” he said.

Gartner said that the main concern is not the size of the chain, but whether it will be able to fit in with the other stores.

“What is really important for us is getting a business that will fit with the eclectic feel (of downtown),” she said. “I think Starbucks can do that.”

Representatives from Starbucks Corp. think that a Starbucks coffeehouse might not hurt the sales of other shops, but actually help them, citing statistics from a Starbucks that opened in Kansas City in 1998.

“Starbucks believes that there is room for many coffeehouses in the marketplace that can meet different customers’ needs,” said Kelly Hand, Starbucks regional marketing specialist. “We believe that by opening a Starbucks location in a new market it will help increase awareness in the coffee category, thus increasing the business of other coffeehouses.”

According to Hugh Crawford, the coffee shop next to Starbucks in Kansas City, Broadway Cafe, usually has more customers than Starbucks. He said that when he is in Kansas City, he always chooses to go to the Broadway Cafe.

In 2003, Starbucks announced its goal to expand its 7,225 stores internationally, including 34 countries outside the United States. To date, there are 9,671 store locations, including licensed and company-owned shops. The Ninth Street Starbucks will be the first company-owned location in Columbia.