Emily Gomez Experiment #11 Comparing Starbucks and Local Coffee Houses

This was an experiment that hit close to home. I’ve worked in a local, independent coffee house for a few years, and within that time, a starbucks emerged about four miles away. My town is a major tourist town, where the international sign of Starbucks catches the eyes of those from out of town faster than the small cottage off the road. I interviewed one of the Duck’s Cottage employees regarding social capital and the differences between the international competetor and the independent coffee house.

1. How has starbucks affected the business at duck’s cottage economically and socially?
I really don’t know if it has actually. Allen has had such a good following with people that come down every single year and they come back every year. Same repeat customers. And starbucks is really far away from us, well, it’s actually not that far, but people arent traveling out of their way to go. I don’t think people have bypassed us to go to Starbucks, except the few people who are looking especially for a frappuccino. You can’t convince them that anything is better than a frappuccino, so they’re going to jump in the car and go to Starbucks.
2. What are some major differences between Starbucks and Duck’s Cottage?
Oh my gosh. Personality, uniqueness, gosh so many words come to mind on that one . that was pretty easy. The people are usually pretty friendly in a starbucks but you’ve got just a unique sense of everything in here. You go in and everything looks the same, and it is. I guesss they have to to be a chain like that, but theres that stale sense of everything being the same. Everyone loves the feeling of Duck’s Cottage. They love the old building. This is the only one. I guess that goes to the question of how that will affect stores like this. You’d think that people would want to come and spend a little bit more than on amazon. They’d want to support the little guy.
3. Do you have regular customers? Would you say you know them pretty well? How do you think this impacts social interaction within our community.
Oh gosh yes. There are people who have been coming in since the doors opened. WE can recognize people who come in all the time, especially people who live here and have been coming in the entire 8 years we’ve been open. Even new people, we see them and they’re like “we just came here last year,” and they comeback again. And as for social interaction, you have Allen, who’s part of the fire department. A lot of the people in the community come in here to talk, giving this place the feel of what a coffee house should be. This isn’t a café where you’re sitting and staring at a computer. People learn about eachother. They sit and talk and learn about what’s going on in the community.

Is Starbucks really harmful to our society? I went to two different starbucks over the weekend to investigate. Though they’re definitely not original, their interior design is horrifyingly monotonous, and their coffee is somewhat bitter, I don’t believe that Starbucks contributes to lower social interaction between humans in most circumstances. However, the interaction between service and the customer isnt as up to par as it should be. Regarding Duck’s Cottage though, they do battle a corporation that not only harms the store socially, but economically as well. Major book sellers harm the small independent coffee/book store.
The ever popular “usual” coffee drink prevents people from communicating at starbucks. You don’t have to think about what you want because it’s always the same. You know if you want “tall,” “grande,” or “venti,” and you know if you want “breve,” or “skinny.” At Duck’s cottage, people often ask, “what’s a mucky duck?” well, for the uneducated coffee drinker, that’s espresso and steamed milk with chocolate, hazelnut, and caramel syrups. There is more interaction between the customers.
Then there’s the topic of uniqueness. Duck’s Cottage wins hands down. It’s an old hunting lodge that was turned into a coffee shop eight years ago. At every starbucks you can find the same paintings, the same advertisements, and the same pastries. There is very little difference between the starbucks in New York City and in Des Moines, Iowa.
However, Starbucks is still a coffee shop, which is always a center of human interaction. No matter where you go, you’ll end up with a place to sit and chat with a warm (though in some cases bitter) cup of coffee. As far as social capital goes, starbucks have actually made it more convienient for people to meet and talk. It’s not starbucks itself though. If every starbucks in NYC became an independent coffee house, I believe there would be just as much interaction between people.
Duck’s Cottage is also a book store. Not only do they compete with large coffee house chains like starbucks, they also have to compete with corporations like Amazon and Barnes and Noble. It’s easier to buy books online for a cheaper price than to go to a local store and not know if they have what you’re looking for. However, that person fails to interact with their local book store. This is one way social capital has decreased due to major corporations and the internet.