Comments on: English town wins its war against chain coffee

By: mysterymoil

mysterymoil — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 16:10:00 +0000

A Wendy’s across the street from an animal hospital, that’s rich.

By: tré

tré — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 15:57:00 +0000

Look at these fools, limiting business. Don’t they know that what businesses want is always good?

By: The Life Of Bryan

The Life Of Bryan — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 12:26:00 +0000

I live in a town (Carrboro, NC) that has a lot of the same sentiment. It’s rather nice, even if they haven’t been 100% effective. There are two large chain grocery stores here, one chain drugstore, and the most ironically located Wendy’s in the western hemisphere. Other than that though, it’s crunchy, local, and thriving. And becoming accustomed to that has made templated shopping centers stuffed with national chains seem that much more jarring.

By: SedanChair

SedanChair — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 03:07:00 +0000

Starbucks is already doing this in certain places; they pick a funky name like “38th Street Cafe” and emulate local shops like T-1000

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 01:00:00 +0000

Large corporations increased profits while restaurants and corner stores suffered, as did the people who were told not to come to work for a couple of weeks because there was no business.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:15:00 +0000

“Olympic spending” (labor/infrastructure/construction etc) vs. “tourist spending” (shopping/eating).

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Am curious to hear how this is “nimbyism” myself…

By: Stooge

Stooge — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 23:46:00 +0000

If you say so…

Olympics spending fuelled Britain’s strongest quarterly growth in five years, springboarding the country out of recession in the third quarter, data showed on Thursday

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/10/25/uk-britain-economy-idUKBRE89O0F820121025

By: Ipo

Ipo — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 23:16:00 +0000

I think he was saying that “the town boasts 41 independent coffee outlets”.
Or I don’t know either.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:46:00 +0000

Sort of like London hosting the Olympics because it would be good for tourism. Because, God knows, nobody had ever heard of London or thought of traveling there before the Olympics. Which as it turned out, killed tourism for half the summer, resulting in billions in losses by small businesses.

By: Thomas Sissons

Thomas Sissons — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:39:00 +0000

‘nimbyism’ usually implies there’s some greater good being served by the desired factory/shop/power plant etc. being put in that place, and locals object. In this case the branch of costa coffee is only relevant to those who are in the area and may go there, the most important people in that category being the locals. It’s perfectly fine for them not to want a particular coffee shop in their town as it doesn’t impact anyone else.

By: EH

EH — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Are you saying that their presence would triple the amount of coffee consumed in the area?

By: EH

EH — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 22:02:00 +0000

Chains remove money from the local economy.

By: Walter Guyll

Walter Guyll — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:33:00 +0000

Heroes of nimbyism.

By: andygates

andygates — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:28:00 +0000

It’s a funny old solution, but Totnes is a funny old town. Forty-one eh? That sounds like a caffeine collecting challenge!

(the publick art is particularly nice)

By: Matt Grimm

Matt Grimm — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:18:00 +0000

Harbucks’s coffee doesn’t have that “raw sewage” taste that Tweak coffee has.

By: Navin_Johnson

Navin_Johnson — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:08:00 +0000

How would they bring business into town? As I recall, the chain wanted to profit off of tourists who were already coming there by placing a huge chain location at a common entrance point for tourists, thus capturing a lot of the business that would otherwise go to locals, and also discouraging exploration into the town where existing mom and pop coffee places (and other shops) are.

By: winkybb

winkybb — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:04:00 +0000

Do they object to the branding or to the ownership? Could Costa open a store that had a quaint, homespun brand and look but that used Costa-sourced coffee, procurement systems and operational management systems? Would a Costa by any other name smell as stinky to the good folk of Totnes?

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 21:01:00 +0000

Geez if they bring business into your town the could easily be supporting two or three local coffee shops.

By: GawainLavers

GawainLavers — Thu, 25 Oct 2012 20:53:00 +0000

Tweedom preserved!