Starbucks Pandemic Victim?

-


Some stores did not survive the COVID-19 pandemic. I don’t know about your city. I thought it was smaller businesses in strip malls or stand-alone coffee shops, until I saw a FOR LEASE sign on a corner Starbucks.

Pandemic or not, it had a steady clientele because of government offices, hotels and apartment buildings. Coffee houses have two  kinds of traffic: drink inside and takeaway. I’ve always wondered how Starbucks in particular, made money because of strays, people who buy one cup and sit there for hours. Other strays brought laptops and other digital ammunition. My idea of a successful coffee shop are scenes in movies like You Got Mail starring Tom Hanks and English Vinglish starring Sri Devi, the late Bollywood star. Busy, busy. These movies have busy coffee shop scenes.

How do you know that Starbucks is a pandemic casualty? Maybe less people are drinking coffee. I’m certain it is another casualty because a sister Starbucks in a busy mall uptown, also shut down after the pandemic. When it was still in operation, I often wondered how it made money. There were always few customers and most of them were glued to their phones, and not books.

Another Starbucks in the same city, but another mall also did not return after the pandemic. It had neither tables nor chairs, strictly grab-n-go (take-away). I don’t think coffee lovers were that many in that particular because of the socio-economic situation in that part of downtown, but the Starbucks in this blog photo? They definitely miss it because government workers pick up coffee in the morning on their way to work, coffee break before lunch, and afternoon coffee break, before they go home around 4 pm.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Executive Blogger

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Elections And Political Bullies

-
Image
Forget democracy.   It should be called political bullying. We are watching it in the prelude to the Canadian election on the 19 th of October, 2015.   Americans have also started their political bullying for the looming presidential election next year. So many trees wasted on books about democracy.   Some countries have big budgets for invading other countries ‘ to defend democracy’ but it is seldom practised in campaigning for elections.   Calling opponents names and printing flyers attacking each other is behaviour that will not be tolerated in kindergarten, but it is all legal, in campaigning.   It is irritating and such a let-down to the whole notion of democracy.   Grown-up men and women behaving like Grade One kids. It is also misleading because many voters believe it is real hatred.   Don’t let that fool you.   These politicians play golf together, attend the same dinner parties, eat and drink at the same social events, share jokes and cut deals in parliament.   They
Read more

Comfort Food As Regret Food

-
Image
Chicken curry. Comfort food is good for the soul, which usually bleeds in winter from icy roads, bad drivers that want to annihilate pedestrians, frozen fingers and toes that take a sabbatical.   What happened to my toes?   I thought I was wearing special socks for boots? We therefore have a right to comfort food which throws doctors’ orders out of the window and has no loyalty to calories.   No calculator on the table, thanks very much.   Piece of bread 5 calories, half a banana 10 calories, sugar-free cheesecake 2,000 calories.   Ah! Ah!  We only live once. Naw!   Comfort food is old school food with its compulsory second helping.   It involves licking fingers and giving a big sigh, about the good life, which is shelter, food, love and debt.   The problem is the zip.   The jeans remind you that comfort food can also be called you will regret food .   Home sweet home is even sweeter in winter after surviving blowing snow and bumper to bumper traffic. What is more welcoming th
Read more

No Air Miles

-
Image
I don’t have Air Miles.   I’m considering putting that on a T-Shirt because I cannot go to the drugstore (chemist) or coffee shop without the cashier asking me if I have air miles. We waited for about two minutes the other day, while this guy looked for his Air Miles card in his overweight wallet.   For what?   For a few points. I don’t have air miles because Mathematics is a foreign language.   I was never good in numbers. That is why I squashed the idea of being an investment banker very early in life.   I understand you can invest in cornfields before the soil is turned up or pork bellies even before a baby pig is born. That is how I view air miles, investing in tomorrow or the unknown.   I’m the dumb one.   Some people understand this air miles’ thing so well, I overheard one customer saying: I can even convert my points into cash. Points and air miles are the same thing in Canada and the U.S.   Drugstores or clothing stores even give you a card to collect point
Read more