West University And Starbucks

[texas911]

Is it me or are there a lot of Starbucks on the West U borders? I can count at least 4 stand alone stores and at least 3 inside stores. I'm not complaining, since I personally am addicted to their coffee, but its seems like a conspiracy! No Starbucks within West U proper though, they would make a killing if they opened one in West U downtown.

[Casual Observer]

Remind me again where West U downtown is?

[kjb434]

exactly.

[UrbaNerd]

I bet the Rice Village one is making a killing, already, anyway.

[VicMan]

There's also a Starbucks in Southside Place. I am not surprised if it's doing well.

[texas911]

You guys have never been to West U downtown (CBD)? You're missing out.

Actually its just a strip of 4-5 businesses next to the elementary school. There is a restaurant, car shop, a Compass bank and the area's last "honor system" grocery store. You go in and you just say, "put it on my tab" and out you go!

I was just joking about it being a downtown. I also joke to my wife when referring to West U/Southside as a Metroplex!

[Casual Observer]

Actually its just a strip of 4-5 businesses next to the elementary school. There is a restaurant, car shop, a Compass bank and the area's last "honor system" grocery store. You go in and you just say, "put it on my tab" and out you go!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Where is this exactly?

[sevfiv]

I bet the Rice Village one is making a killing, already, anyway.

yeah - some of their hats have embroidering that says: "Kirby Rocks" (referring to sales)

[VicMan]

Where is this exactly?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

To the east of West University Elementary School.

[Casual Observer]

Jeez people.. how about some real directions, and not: "over yunder just past ol' Bill McCallister's farmhouse.."??

[YakuzaIce]

Correct me if I am wrong, but it is along edloe st., between Rice and University Blvd.

[Kirzania]

This is only what They tell me, so don't kill the messenger.

I have been told that the only reason they build so many Sbux in one area is because of the load. One store by itself in a highly populated area just can't handle all the people who want their coffee at 6 in the morning. It was the same reason they put the drive-thru Sbux across the street from the other Sbux on W. Gray and Shepherd - too many people, many of whom just wanted to get in and out.

And, trust me, don't say "Well, put more people behind the bar." They won't - they refuse. My Sbux on Mason refuses to put more than three people on the floor at any given time. (Being from a high-traffic drive-thru in Lexington where there are no less than five people on the floor at any given time, this is insanity.) Mason Rd. is a million dollar store - one million dollar profit in a year store - and they won't pay to employ more than 15 people, 3 of whom, will only be on the floor during the day.

So, they build more than one Sbux. And, please excuse me for this if you already agree but, we're not CVS. Sbux doesn't go into an area and say, "We'll just set one here, here, here, and here." They see where more are needed and where they'll turn a profit. Not just sit and take up useful space.

For comparison - No. of CVS stores in America: more than 5,000 - No. of Walgreen's stores in America: 4,834 - No. of Sbux stores: slightly more than 3,000 in America, and only 1,037 company-operated worldwide. We're not The Plague, like CVS. Too many people point out to me "But Starbucks is everywhere! Why do we need another one?!" I'm always quick to point out that they're building another CVS down Man O' War, not 3 miles from the other one.

(Edited ... Went to double check my Sbux store numbers.) And btw, the Sbux in the Kroger/Randalls/Albertsons/Food Lion/whathave you are licensed stores. They're not company-owned, so they company doesn't get a say in where Kroger builds their stores or puts the licensed stands.

[RedScare]

According to Wikipedia:

"Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is a large multinational chain of coffee shops, often serving pastries, with a reputation in the US as a center for socializing, particularly among students and young urban professionals. The corporate headquarters are in Seattle, Washington. The company was named after Starbuck, a character in Moby-Dick, and its mascot is a stylized cartoon siren. As of January 2005, Starbucks had 8,949 outlets worldwide: 6,376 of them in the United States and 2,573 in other countries. 861 of them are drive-through outlets."

They must have added a bunch in the last 10 hours.

BTW, Starbucks has made Houston famous. Lewis Black's closing joke is about how he found "the end of the universe...and ironically, it's in Houston, Texas". He goes on to explain that after leaving a comedy club here, he saw the 2 Starbucks on W. Gray. His explanation for why they did this - for people with Alzheimers.

[Casual Observer]

I wouldn't trust Wikipedia - since its all information entered by random users.

[RedScare]

Good point. Here's the company website...

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/overview.asp

...which shows 6,751 US locations.

[RedScare]

Hey, this is pretty funny. On the same website, they have a store locator.

http://www.starbucks.com/retail/locator/default.aspx

Type in your address and it tells you how many stores are located within 5 miles of you. Since I live in the heights, it was ONLY 39. My old condo on Memorial, across the street from a Starbucks, and half a mile from the infamous W. Gray Starbucks, had 43.

[Subdude]

You win! I only had 39.

[texas911]

Yes on Edloe Street between Rice and University. Don't blink when you pass by, you'll miss it, but on Saturdays in the fall, its Old Time Americana, very apple pie, with the West U little leaguers playing ball and all the families just walking around enjoying the games.

[sevfiv]

You win!  I only had 39.

i only have one within five miles -

[VicMan]

I'll go ahead and revise the store count on the website (they must have built a lot of stores between January and now).

Also, most of the articles on Wikipedia should be okay because they are constantly fact-checked by other editors (by other editors, I mean core editors in the hundreds, and anyonymous ones in the thousands). If anyone "vandalizes" a page (by putting innapropriate content or obvious factual errors), a page can be reverted to an earlier version.

Also, I heard that Brittanica can be just as unreliable as Wikipedia is.

[RedScare]

i only have one within five miles -

[VicMan]

I have 29 in a five-mile radius.

[YakuzaIce]

26 for me

[ssullivan]

I have 31 within five miles at my current address, up from only 18 at my old place in Westchase.

I've recently cut my Starbucks habit to only once per week. I was gaining too much weight, having too much trouble sleeping, and spending far too much money stopping by there four or five times a week.

[sevfiv]

where i previously lived, there are apparently 39 in a five mile radius...

but i didn't patronize them any more often than i do now with just the one (which would be zero times...lol)

[RedScare]

In researching this issue, I found a website where people were doing this same thing. The highest concentration was apparently 170 in a 5 mile radius. Didn't see where that was.

[sevfiv]

170 in a 5 mile radius

holy crapcakes!

[Kirzania]

Yeah, RedScare, I work for Sbux on the side. I love the discount. <3

I was really sort of weirded out here. All these different store numbers. As employees, we have access to an intranet page that shows an updated list of all the Sbux stores cross-country and around the world. I swear, I thought all of these numbers we way higher than anything listed on the intranet. :confused:

[RedScare]

That's curious. Why don't you get on there and ask for an accurate number for us. Although, I'm guessing the corporate site would be accurate.

[Kirzania]

I kind of wonder if the numbers are different because they include or don't include licensed stores. I'm pretty sure the number on the intranet only consists of company-owned and operated stores.

Bah. In my opinion, I'd rather see a new Sbux than a new Walgreens. (Coming Soon!)