637292 Fri Jul 17 06:54:50 -0700 2009 17 33 Food Media and News 0 4866865 So says an article in the Seattle Times. The corporation is looking to change the name of their iconic coffee shops to give them "a community personality." http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009479123_starbucks16.html Fri Jul 17 06:54:50 -0700 2009 75332 Gio 1 4867064 Next up, McDonald's changes its name to Grampa's Funtime Family Diner. This is some bullshit. How long do they think they can fool us? Fri Jul 17 07:59:45 -0700 2009 4866865 18488 SnackHappy 1 4867588 It would be comical if it weren't so sleazy. Fri Jul 17 10:32:56 -0700 2009 4866865 13150 babette feasts 2 4867727 Sleazy how? You either like what they offer or you don't. I'd like to think I could recognize Starbuck's regardless of the name, and people who favor local spots won't be lured away by no-name coffee anyhow. It's a silly marketing move and if it fools anyone, they're not likely to be fooled more than once. Fri Jul 17 11:26:22 -0700 2009 4867588 202198 ferret 3 4869375 Something about the way they drove those funky little places out of business with their slickness but are now hurting for business and trying to be funky again... Something about selling the exact same thing as the rest of the global chain but pretending to be an independent... If Starbucks is a good brand, why do they need to masquerade as '15th St. Coffeehouse' (slated to open in SEA soon)? It's not as if they are starting a single second brand. They are opening individually named coffeehouses but selling Starbucks product, no doubt hoping nobody will notice. People who like Starbucks already go there. People who don't go to the independents. Don't you think they are trying to lure the people who resent their global domination and bad coffee by pretending to be tiny, individual, independent shops? How are you supposed to keep track of who is who when one player has multiple aliases? Sat Jul 18 01:00:36 -0700 2009 4867727 13150 babette feasts 3 4869497 I think sending teams of observers with notebooks into independent shops to rip off their ideas is sleazy. Sat Jul 18 05:31:15 -0700 2009 4867727 89493 scubadoo97 4 4869709 That's exactly what I thought - if they're so good at this, why did they need to observe a real local coffee shop for so long? But I had to laugh at one of the comments in the Seattle Times article: "And each employee with be required to wear 15 pieces of flair. " And someone else's comment: "Maybe they can have a band there and play smelly cat." :-D Sat Jul 18 07:56:14 -0700 2009 4869497 10532 LindaWhit 5 4872028 Funky items like wacky buttons on suspenders? It certainly is on the sleazy to secretly try to further rip of the little places that they have really worked very hard drive out of business. In many way that very strategy of over saturation (brand bombing) is what got them into trouble in the first place. Sun Jul 19 13:38:27 -0700 2009 4869709 23758 Withnail42 4 4883659 How is that sleazy? Every business looks at similar businesses and takes ideas and try to improve on them. For big companies, it is common to try to hire away talent from competing companies. This isn't some high tech computer chip industry where corporate espionage can exist by copying proprietary fabrication methods. Thu Jul 23 07:42:36 -0700 2009 4869497 197037 mrfood16 5 4884085 They dominate the coffee business, worldwide. Why do they need to go hangout at Victrola for a year? Thu Jul 23 10:03:59 -0700 2009 4883659 13150 babette feasts 6 4884149 Maybe because they aren't satisfying everyone,such as yourself. Thu Jul 23 10:21:31 -0700 2009 4884085 197037 mrfood16 7 4887223 Ooooooh, so they were hanging out at Victrola for a year trying to figure out how to make BETTER COFFEE...it's all so clear now. ; ) Fri Jul 24 09:28:13 -0700 2009 4884149 13150 babette feasts 1 4867728 Here's the MSN article http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/default.aspx?feat=1194717 Fri Jul 17 11:26:28 -0700 2009 4866865 154901 roro1831 1 4867796 They won't change all of their shops, and "Starbucks fans' won't switch... since they mostly buy into the name branding / status. I'm also sure that Sbucks will make a big deal about the stores that they are changing, so it's not like they are trying to fool anyone. G. Fri Jul 17 11:54:54 -0700 2009 4866865 120112 legourmettv 1 4869401 i think i saw it in Lijiang, China! [scroll to very last photo http://saudades.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=food&action=display&thread=486] i call it Bigbucks coffee when in no-coffee-culture countries . Sat Jul 18 02:35:06 -0700 2009 4866865 292258 Pata_Negra 2 4869991 That's funny! I've been to Liijiang, but I missed that. The Starbucks in the forbidden city in Beijing did really rub me the wrong way when I came around a corner and saw it staring me in the face. G. Sat Jul 18 09:58:25 -0700 2009 4869401 120112 legourmettv 3 4870053 it's gone now. and yes i remember sitting in there holding up a magazine the whole time because domestic tourists [and others as well] were all taking photos of the place. so when are they going to install a Bigbucks inside the Temple of Heaven?! ;) Sat Jul 18 10:42:05 -0700 2009 4869991 292258 Pata_Negra 1 4871193 Looks like they have too many vice presidents in their marketing dept. Sun Jul 19 01:43:01 -0700 2009 4866865 13619 Sharuf