Coffee Shops Are Supposed to Sell Coffee

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"We'll discuss it over coffee." Oops! Coffee shops are going out of business.


Second Cup, the coffee shop chain is not as well-known as Starbucks, but you can see it in some shopping malls in Canada and U.S. Its logo is not recognizable like Starbucks’ green facade, but it has one. My Top 10 readers know that I’ve done some posts about Starbucks coffee shops that have gone out of business in this town.

I thought it was only Starbucks that was in trouble, until a few days ago when I read somewhere that a second, Second Cup coffee shop will close permanently. I was not surprised that the first one did not survive the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It was practically a community centre, not a place that sells espresso, latte or just plain brew. It was supposed to be making money hand over fist because of its location. It was at the corner of the hydro building and the ballet company. Getting there was no problem because of the bus route, with more than 8 buses.

I used to walk past that Second Cup on my way to the barber shop (before my barber defected to the U.S.)  I seldom saw people drinking coffee or talking over coffee. It looked like a small library. It was a poster boy for a business strategy gone wrong. I never understood why Starbucks and other coffee shops decided it made good business sense to turn them into living rooms and libraries. You buy one cup of coffee and stay the whole morning massaging your phone. I was not surprised when that Second Cup closed.

I didn’t go to Business School but common sense tells me that shops sell something.

“Second Cup and Starbucks, what do you sell exactly? What’s your primary product?”

“We sell ‘killing time’ space. Look at our armchairs  and bar stools.”

“How about coffee?”

“That’s secondary. We are a community center.”

I was wrong to think that it was only Starbucks going out of business in this town. If Second Cup is also a casualty, it means the business model of selling 'killing time’ is not working.

Nonqaba waka Msimang

Blogger Without Borders

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