Saturday, July 19, 2008

Goodbye to Starbucks

Many of you have heard that Starbucks is closing around 600 stores nation wide. Our local Starbucks here on the west side is being closed as a part of that. The Chicago Tribune wrote about it today. The Tribune states that the nearest Starbucks is 2 1/2 miles away.

This Starbucks opened less than two years ago. To many on the west side it was a sign that investors were finally willing to start their businesses here as well. It was a sign of hope. And now it is leaving. It may just be a financial decision to headquarters in Seattle, but glimpses of hope that are then quickly removed is a story all to familiar to Chicago's west side neighborhoods.

On a more personal note, this Starbucks has been the site of our weekly elders meeting for our church. I guess, we will be looking for a new meeting place.

Anyone else affected by a closing Starbucks?
Why do you think that businesses refuse to invest in neighborhoods like mine?

4 comments:

David Rudd said...

fortunately, ours is not closing. it is unfortunate, though that these decisions are likely being made by bottom line criteria. my own opinion is that we are watching the beginning of the crumbing of the starbucks empire. they sold their soul and have lost the things that made them unique...

the question is, "who will replace them?... and when?"

Anonymous said...

They are closing low demand stores ...

KG said...

I was in our Starbucks this morning for a meeting and I heard disappoint, if not anger, from some of the people who came through about the fact that it would be closing.

I also could see the frustration in the workers who were being asked about the coming closing.

It is discouraging to me that economic decisions are so often hurtful to people personally and often furthur reinforce beliefs that no one cares about certain communities.

Kindra said...

I was really disappointed to hear that that Starbucks is closing. We have some good memories there and it was always nice to be able to have somewhere local to go. I feel sorry for the people losing their jobs there too. I think about that quote in Divided By Faith where they say that, economically, when white america catches a cold, black america catches pneumonia. I think this might be an example.

That's interesting that "starbucks closure list" found you and left you a message!