One of Them is True?
Pick which one of the following statements is true:
- The City Council is considering an ordinance which limits the size of the pet you can have to 1 pound per 15 square feet of dwelling.
- The Virginia Highlands Starbucks is closing.
- Tyler Perry’s ‘House of Payne‘ is so popular that he has hired Jermaine Dupris to write “Payne! The Musical!” .
All of them seem so impossible that any reader should be skeptical. However, the answer is that number two is true and the others are false. Sources say that the Virginia Highlands Starbucks store is closing!
Who’d have thought that a Starbucks, one of the oldest in Atlanta, would not be able to maintain enough business in Virginia Highlands? There are two different ways to look at this. One way is ‘Hooray! defeat for chain stores! Booyah the independent little guy! San Francisco Coffee Roasters Up Up and Away!”
The second way to look at it is with concern. Rent here is clearly an issue and if rents are becoming so high that Starbucks cannot maintain one of its stalwart locations in a very prosperous neighborhood, what pressure must that be putting on other businesses? Might Starbucks be a canary in a coal mine? If they cannot afford the rent, who will go next? I’d hate to see Neighbors or Atkins Park unable to afford the location in which they have long been.
It might be a good idea to stop by the Starbucks. Has anyone ever seen a coffee going out of business sale?
January 18th, 2008 at 10:58 am
I would like to think that it’s because San Francisco Coffee actually serves better coffee (and better food) in a nicer atmosphere, but rent probably does have a lot to do with it. Overexpansion by Starbucks may also be part of it - how many can one community really support?
January 18th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
[…] coffee aficionados will have to find a new spot. Starbucks in Virginia-Highland is closing. Bloglanta talks about […]
January 19th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Actually, I’d say that between the two SF Coffee locations and Aurora, that Starbuck’s was in a distant 4th place.
The rent specter is definitely in play, though: boutiques come and go, but that large store at Va-Hi (between Fontaine’s and Everybody’s) is closing down (on the backend of a building sale, I believe), and the old bookstore has moved, with its house now occupied by a new boutique of some form.
January 19th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Also, I confess that until a month ago, I thought SF Coffee was a chain of some kind. I have seen the error of my ways.