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The Panther Prints ¢

February 11, 1997

Coffee Bars Invade

Ss

MONTREAL (CUP) —What

; has happened to the

coffeehouse culture once syn- onymous with beatniks, black turtlenecks, pretentious poetry and folk music? While small, independent coffeehouses that host poetry and hang local art- work on their walls still exist in large numbers, the more ubiq- uitous coffeehouse symbols today are the large, corporate chains that seem to pop up every other day.

The dark, smoky, strug- gling coffeehouse is now the clean, well-lit, smoke-free, fi- nancially stable coffeebar.

The coffeehouse has been around in the Middle East and Europe for centuries. Dur- ing the 1950s, coffeehouses began emerging in the U.S. Rooted in the bohemian tradi- tion of the cafes of the Left Bank, the American coffeehouse had a reputation for being a haven of subver- sive thought. Coffee was not

: the emphasis — it was just

something to go with your ciga- rette and conversation.

The coffeebar, in its present incarnation, is a rela- tively new phenomenon. The Second Cup, Canada’s largest coffeebar chain, only arrived in Montreal three years ago.

But is the coffeebar just

\ }\ another trend? Not as far as “| Starbucks is concerned. Cur- E| rently the largest coffeebar

chain in North America, Starbucks was transformed in the mid-1980s when CEO Howard Schultz went to Italy.

Charmed by the coziness of the Italian coffeebar, Schultz decided to recreate that feel- ing in North America. His first step was to base the store

around espresso, a drink with

limited exposure in North America, rather than straight coffee.

With 1995 sales of $631 million (US), North Americans seem charmed by his inter- pretation.

Currently, there are more than 970 Starbucks across North America and Japan. From its Seattle headquarters, Starbucks is planning to ex- pand throughout the Pacific Rim and into Europe. Some financial consultants estimate that the number of coffeebars will quintuple in the next five years.

For some, this is a sure sign that the trend is about to peak. And not surprisingly, as Starbucks becomes more and more of an urban presence, it has begun to experience a backlash. In Minneapolis, one community successfully or- ganized to keep Starbucks out of their neighbourhood, citing the need to protect the local coffeehouse and businesses.

While such occurrences may be rare, Toronto experi- enced a similar reaction last year when two downtown To-

ronto coffeebar neighbour- hoods heard that Starbucks was planning to move in. Al- though they were not success- ful in stopping the Starbucks’ openings, their protest sparked a city-wide debate about the meaning of community.

With such complete in- filtration by the chains into the consciousness of coffee drink- ing and non-coffee drinking North Americans, where do the independent coffeehouses and bars stand a chance?

The entire concept of the coffeehouse has been rede- fined in North American terms — while emphasis is ona qual- ity product, it is also on quan- tity and profit. As we become addicted to caffeine by the masses, the coffeebar will be- come just another stop in our daily routine.

As far away from their roots as they have gone, Starbucks and other chains would like nothing more than to be that necessary stop in our daily routines. And while they insist that the market is big enough for everyone, there may not be a place for an independent coffeehouse when a chain coffeebar sprouts up on every corner.

But as more and more coffeebars show up every- where, will they just assume the coziness of another neigh- bourhood institution, McDonalds?

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