starbucks

Faced with increasing competition from independent coffee shops across the country, Starbucks is embarking on an experiment to distance itself from its nationally known corporate brand and open coffee shops that give the appearance of being locally owned.

Over the past year, Starbucks has been forced to close 600 corporate-owned outlets, so its opened a new store in Seattle that looks nothing like the classic green and black Starbucks, doesn't use the Starbucks logo, store design or name anywhere in the coffee shop.

In the most obvious rip-off of an independent business, the décor of the new 15th Avenue Coffee and Tea, which the Seattle Times describes as a "rustic, eco-friendly style," is virtually identical to that of Smith, a successful bar next door. Owner Linda Derschang says Starbucks copied everything, from her vintage industrial light fixtures to her wooden seats, and even asked one of her managers where the bar's awnings came from. In an interview with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, she noted:

"It's got a lot of salvaged wood, it's the same paint color inside as Smith and some of the wood-framed chalkboards look very, very similar… Where's the independent spirit in knocking someone off?"

There's two points worth noting from what's happening with Starbucks. One is, independents can compete with national giants, and customers are increasingly tired of generic corporate brands. The two trends, however, are mutually dependent. There must be locally owned businesses willing to be competitive and there must be customers who who will make supporting local business a priority.