Corporate Greed?
Back in ’06 (in fact two years ago this week) when we first started working with the Spring Meadows church plant there was no coffee shop in Spring Hill. One of the first commercial buildings to go up was a Saxbys Coffee. What a beautiful place. Like a very upscale Starbucks. Very comfy leather chairs, super lighting, intimate and the coffee never tasted burnt. On top of that FREE INTERNET. It became my first office in Spring Hill. I remember the day they put the sign up with the name, going online and reading up on Saxbys. A few days before they opened I went by and met the owner. We became friends immediately as he owned a couple of Mr. Gatti’s Pizza places and one of the jobs I had in high school was making the dough for a Gatti’s in “the great state”.
It was a super meeting place and I spent a lot of time there. That was 18 months ago. Then about 6 to 9 months ago Starbucks bought property and, over the protests of some, got a permit to build on a lot in the same parking lot as Saxbys. People were all “up in arms”. Then two weeks ago while we were at camp the very unexpected report came that Saxbys had closed and the building was up for sale.
Immediately there was an outcry against Starbucks - how the corporate giant had come in and stepped on the little guy and forced poor Saxbys out. Well, whether it was the fault of Starbucks, the economy or the owners concentrating on a couple of restaurants they’d opened in north of here we might never know. But I’m always amazed when people speak without knowing the facts.
Saxbys isn’t as pitiful as one might think. On their website a couple of years ago was the clearly stated goal of overtaking the coffee king (Starbucks) and becoming the largest coffee house chain in American within 10 years. Part of their strategy has been to open near Starbucks and, with their upscale environment outdo the coffee king. By 2005 they had 600 stores and announced they would be opening another 700 in the next six months in 18 states. Then in July of ’06 they announced they have over 2600 stores. This is not some “little boy David” of a company. Oh, I’ll miss Saxbys but don’t be too tough on Starbucks this time.
In the mean time there is a genuine “little guy” coffee shop in Utopia Coffee opened by a young couple who moved here from California. They run the shop and live in the old house that houses it. Utopia’s parking lot joins ours at Spring Meadows. If you’re looking to support a cause...this would be the wiser stand to make against “ corporate bigness”.
