Starbucks comes to Munich

Hiya

Here is the press release: Starbucks kommt nach München

Now just watch Mr Lodge update all those flat listings to include "Distance to Starbucks"...

Katrina



[size=1]Update by admin: Now a 2nd Starbucks also

Presumably the further a Mr. Lodge apartment is from one of these McCoffee hellholes, the cheaper it is.

Went to a starbucks in Singapore - did not sell beer. Useless.

For those who can't understand/won't learn German:


Yes there is a terrace there too.

They will also be opening in Nürnberg, on the Hauptmarkt (i.e. right near the Christkindlmarkt), in November.

Katrina

Well hopefully it won't be as expensive as the one in Vienna...just absurd.

I'm not a big Starbucks fan, though I'd definitely stop in now and again for a carmel frappacino (yum! ). It used to chap my ass the way all the tourists in my little beach town back home would funnel right into Starbucks, when the best coffee shop east of Kona was right across the street. Damn tourists...

well, HOT DAMN on two counts:

1) in a few short months I will finally be able to get a great big fucking cup of coffee to go that will taste exactly like I expect it to taste (i.e., and not what i consider a demitasse of bilgewater) and

2) apparently my German is improving, as I understood most of the message before Katrina posted the translation

all is good.

i actually found coffee fellows a good substitute, especially since they started doing iced caramel caffe lattes.

I hate Starbucks.

Rip-off merchants getting rich off people with more money than sense.

Oh crap. Another nail in the coffin of individuality. Another kick in the nadgers of class. Another putrid dump on the head of style.

You playa haters can sit out the TT Tea Time at Starbucks. Me, I'm going in for my mocha grande and one of those cranberry-orange muffins or maybe the American style chocolate cake. Probably wearing Gap clothing.

Goes off to sip Tazo Zen Tea, happily bought from Starbucks zurich airport

Yuk!

Argument about how U.S. corporations are FORCING people to buy their products in 3... 2... 1...

not from me.

i find it a lot more questionable that certain coffee chains FROM Munich choose American names to appear more cosmopolitan.

Indeed, San Francisco Coffee Company perhaps? They go so far as to require employees to speak English, and speak English to each other!

Well, I don't personally care much one way or another since I don't drink coffee. But I do go to the Americano-style coffee houses as they are sometimes easy places to meet during the day. I wonder if there will be any competition in the prices, as they are ridiculous right now.

Hmm...guess I can unpack my cappucino maker and pack my Starbucks card.

Actually...no. I'm just surprised at the whole phenomenon that has commercialized coffee drinking. My father has carried two large thermoses of coffee with him everywhere he's gone--for the past two and a half decades, at least. He might only stop into a Starbucks to ask for directions or use the restroom. Now days he could easily ditch the thermoses and never be at a loss for a cup o' java. I think Friends--that wretched, wretched show I can't help but watch reruns of--is somehow to blame for all of this.

Comedian Lewis Black does a bit about the end of the Universe being in Houston, Texas, where there is a Starbucks directly across the street from another Starbucks.
Amazon.com: The End Of The Universe

There is an episode of "South Park" where the whole town is up in arms about a coffee empire setting up shop and driving the small coffee shop into ruin.

Then the residents actually drink the coffee.

The moaning stops.

I'm not that great a Starbucks fan, primarily because Starbucks bought Seattle Coffee Company in London and it wasn't as nice to drink on my walk from Fenchurch St to Bank But I don't specifically avoid it.

Katrina

All I can say is Woo-f*cking-Hoo!

I personally think Starbucks regular coffee is crap because it's overroasted but I have a long-standing love affair with the Grande Americano with room (for cream).

As a recent transplant from Seattle I had been getting a serious jonesing for an Americano in the five months that I've been here. Fortunately for me, my coworker and I found several of them in Zurich last week on a biz trip.

To further compound my sickness, while on the way back from Switzerland (again) yesterday I drove thirty minutes out of the way to buy one in Saint Gallen...sad, I know.

With regards to the worldwide commercialization of crass American culture: it is inevitable, resistance is futile, all your base are belong to us, etc, etc.

@Echo: there are places in Seattle where I could stand and see three different Starbucks stores...Eeek! See also Shrek 2 for a good joke about this.

kit

Well let us not forget the simpsons episdoe where the Simpsons are walking through a mall and as they do so every shop is being replaced with a Starbucks.

I personally don't drink coffe much and don't get waht the big deal is. Although I don't like the McDonaldsisation aspect of this.

I paid about 2.5 pounds for a grande vanilla latte in London last week, and I would happily do it again. In San Francisco, there were no less than 5 shops within a 2 block radius of my office. Starbucks has capitalized on if not cornered the market for an addictive substance that's not only legal but that causes significantly less health problems than tobacco or alcohol. Though I'm a victim, I still think this is absolutely fucking brilliant, and not worth a tirade against American companies who are successful in getting people to buy their products. [aside: I would still choose a Peets coffee over Starbucks in NoCal. Better roasting in my opinion.]

I'll fully admit to liking quite a few Starbucks drinks. Yeah, it's foo-foo, but the White Chocolate Mocoa is outstanding. Especially when it's on ice and the temperature outside is over 100 (err, I mean over 40C).

That said, I don't think I'll be drinking much of it. 4 Euros for a coffee borders on highway robbery, but we have only fellow consumers to blame for that...

That's what I mean. American companies see Europe as a growth market because Europeans buy the stuff. Companies don't move into new markets just for fun, they do it because the populace supports their own profit.

Anyway, I think Starbucks is franchised just like McDonalds and Pizza Hut, so the local owner will probably be a German guy putting up the capital.

yes, I'm agreeing with you on the American product bit. Starbucks however actually doesn't franchise. Definitely not in the US, and is trying not to internationally either.

So DW, if consumers buy it then it is automatically ok? What if Starbucks were guilty of predatory business practices to spread their organisation, what if they marketed themselves as ecologically responsible and werent, what if they were guilty of buying cheap third world coffee? Would they then be bad, or should the decision be always left to the consumers?

Starbucks is pretty unpleasant - if only they'd open a Tim Horton's instead...

Hiya...FYI: Starbucks preceded Friends...we can thank the upper middle class 80s baby boomers for the coffee house phenomenon. The demographic essentially outgrew the bar scene. The inevitable aging and all associated trappings - spouses, kids etc. plus the explosion of AIDs/STD awareness AND the health craze plus anti-smoking movement made the bar scene unattractive. The boomers however, didn't outgrow the "lets get together and hang out" culture. Starbucks with their central locations, non-smoking atmosphere, and living room like settings filled the void.

In lots of places Starbucks really came out selling atmosphere first, beverages second. Ex: the rollout campaign in Asia was "meet me at Starbucks". Hugely successful, allowing them to enter markets where folks thought they had no chance in hell. Example: people laughed at the idea of a non-smoking coffee bar in Tokyo, (locals can't tolerate stong coffee, milk products and love to smoke).

Starbucks/coffee houses continue to provide useful meeting places from one trend to another. Example Trend 1: changing patterns in dating behaviour, particularly the advent of internet dating. Meeting for a coffee provided a short, cheap way of scoping out the other party. Example Trend 2: internet bubble burst, turned out of their offices, masses of the unemployed - particularly urban dwellers - needed a place to go.

As far as damaging the local one-man coffee houses, there's no denying that. However, Starbucks had been viewed as GOOD for the coffee industry, high and low end alike. East coast USA dwellers might be interested to know that the CEO of dunkin donuts thinks that Starbucks is the BEST thing that ever happened to his business since he can charge an exorbidant 1.29 for a cup of coffee that used to sell for .59.

Correct, Starbucks isn't a franchise, but it is considered a damn good company to work for - from the bottom up. Perhaps the need isn't as great here in Munich but for many places - esp in the US where it's been voted in the 100 best companies to work for - Starbucks offers benefits, educational and promotional opportunities to employees - many of whom don't yet or will never have college diplomas. They are also willing to take on difficult to place demographics like senior citizens, single working mothers, 2nd job holders, students etc.

Now mind you I'm not saying Starbucks has a halo. You can knock it around all you like but do give some credit where its due. As for me, I only really started to like the place in Frankfurt. It was the only non-smoking place around. And damn they got a chocolate cake that is the bidness

WOW. jml just dropped some serious knowledge on our asses.

Me body has a massive dislike to all things coffee related, so its no big deal for me as I dont drink the stuff. I too hate the whole McDonalisation of Western society though. Brands and consumers everywhere - and me a marketing graduate as well How about keeping some individuality? No, didnt think so...(*smacks hand* stupid Foxy)

Copy that SB is not a franchise.

In Houston, Texas (my former home of ~5 years) there were, I shit you not, two Starbucks across the street from each other. Both were full all the time. I keep meaning to take a picture of them...

For the ulitmate SB reference, check out the movie Best in Show. The couple explain how they met at Starbucks, but not at the SAME Starbucks...they saw each other from a Starbucks across the street. Then they finally met at the 3rd Starbucks down the street...or something like that. Very funny, mostly cause its plausible.

well i hate coffee so i never went to starbucks in the states.. then when i moved to vienna my friends told me they have other things too... well i tried the frappacinos (the ones with cream, not coffee) and i was hooked. and lately i have been craaving one.

but another thing i like about starbucks is that its smoke free (yea i don't smoke). i haaaaaaaaaate it when my friends and i go out somewhere just to hang out or whatever and we get back home and our clothes, hair, and skin smell like stale smoke.. NASTY. so its fun to hang out in starbucks, especially when u get one of those big fluffy chairs and can sit at the window and people watch.

anyway, i'm excited that its coming to munich but unfortunately by then i'll be back in wien and in munich every other week again :/ o well.

Hey- dont count your muffins before they hatch:

Jul 8th 2004 | FRANKFURT
From The Economist print edition:

Its all about Branding. If KardstadtCoffee was actually branded as Starbucks I am sure they would rake it in. Am I right in thinking that there is one of these already in Munich? Everything looks like Starbucks, the logo on the cups etc. - but it actually carries a different name...

You realise that it cost Starbucks about three pence to make that? That's a mark-up that even Gap would be proud of. And you can guess how much money the grower gets - he's still eating dust for breakfast while westerners throw their money down the drain. If you feel the urge to lighten your wallet, give your money to charity instead.

I don't like huge chains either and prefer individual-owned shops / cafés. The usual response to that is that they are so much more expensive, but look at the prices of Haagen-Dazs and Starbucks!
Also, I don't like coffee, but I had to admit in uni that I used to go to SB in Leeds to sink into the huge leather sofas and eat that glorious chocolate cake they make (Death By Chocolate?).
If I ever told that to my sis, she'd rip my head off, she's totally against them and all commercial things. I'm weaker!

i always feel like an uneducated prat when i walk into starbucks. was in london a couple of weeks ago had time before a meeting, and wanted to go over my notes again. went into starbucks, guy behingd the counter realy hasseled me because i coudln'T friggin' understand the difference between sixteen billion different kinds of coffee beans, served in seventy different styles, (milk on top, milk frothy with cow, cream shaken by nubile buxom brazilian virgins and the placed on the side) and then all of that in sizes, from really small to i must not sleep for the next thee days. what every happend to just getting a coffee???

Been in Seattle, I can attest to being able to see 3 from one vantage point. At some point you'd think the market saturated.

I am a bit confused by people needing one of those here...in Oklahoma, I'm all for 'em, but that's because the folks back in Oklahoma boil their coffee up in 50 gallon drums...so Starbucks is a significant improvement.

Anyway...if you don't like the place, you could always do some of the things these guys suggest...

That said, if I pass the damn thing and I have enough money in my pocket, I'm likely to stop in for a mocha.

At number 56 Leopold Str, which is very close to GM's...

P

Starbucks SUCKS!!! That stuff is brutal!!!

mmmmmm coffee.

Funny photo taken from Fark's daily photoshop contest:

What the USA would look like if it had never left the British Empire.

does anyone know when the Starbucks in Schwabing is supposed to open? I thought it was this month...

[size=1]Threads merged by admin

Maybe the problems with Karstadt are slowing it down. Nothing on their webpage about a definite date.

Starbucks Munich was supposed to open on October 1st but it is all up in the air due to the owner of Starbucks Deutschland (i.e. KarstadtQuelle) being up shit creek.

This press release does not have the opening date on it (but it used to - how strange).

Guess that if anyone really wants to know they could contact their press office?

Katrina

The last date I know of that was posted on the Starbucks website was October 17th. My brother-in-law is so addicted that he checked before coming to visit.

Damn... one of the things I liked about this town was no Starbucks. In San Francisco we kept them out for years until our last weasel Mayor let them it. For a metro city they are a virus. I can go into how they lower the quality of the beans, buy independent stores around the area (and you don't know it) and other big box tactics.

I haven't found the same in Munich, but back home my local coffee shop was like a neighboorhood center. My neighbor owned it, you became friends with your neighbors there and you work all day at a nice table with free WiFi for the $1 price of a cup of coffee. The only bond at Starbucks was everybody speaking the same "Starbucks language" ("You must conform… do not order a "large blended mocha" it must be I'll have a venti mochachinno"… you must conform, you must be a good little consumer).

Now it's people's choice to drink their "evil empire" coffee, I'm just hoping more choose not to and support local business.

As for San Francisco Coffee, I actually like the place, people and coffee. The only big downside are the insane prices (somehow in my warped view of the world a Cuppa Joe should cost less than a weissbier). But they do use Ghiradelli chocolate which is native SF (well Oakland now, but as usual I digress)

Okay, from this post I can tell I think I need to drink *LESS COFFEE*.

Well, I think Schwabing deserves Starbucks and Starbucks deserves Schwabing.
As long as they keep their mitts off Neuhausen, that's fine by me.
Keep it local, peeps!!!
Topsy

Bollocks to Starbucks and all that coffee shite - when are PG Tips going to open a tea room? You can't beat a good brew and a scone!

I agree about the Starbucks invasion - the greatest coffee shop west of Kona is in my hometown across from Starbucks, and all the tourists miss out on the great stuff to funnel into Starbucks. Oh well, I like Starbucks coffee too, but if I'm back home I go to the better one. Mmmm...mocha coconut frappacino. Mmmm...Steve's smooth french. I guess they both have their specialties.

Starbucks bashing in favor of local business is missing the point entirely for the Munich situation. Starbucks is a particular type of coffee shop. Some towns (e.g. Frisco) have other local options which offer the same atmosphere, and Munich is NOT one of them. There isn't a choice here. My current "choice" is to stay home. I for one will be overjoyed to have a cafe that

1) lets me sit as long as I want without bugging me

2) doesn't allow smoking (or at least has a non-smoking section)

3) doesn't blast annoying techno music

4) has comfortable chairs and couches

and if that cafe happens to be Starbucks, fine. If a local business adopted 1-4 above, great. What I want is precisely the choice I don't have now. Starbucks is not the Empire forcing itself on people. They're everywhere because they offer something for which there is a large demand and, outside of Starbucks, little supply. Basic economics, not a battle of good versus evil. Get a grip.

I was in a "local" almost-alternative to Starbucks on sunday. I can say that íf Starbucks comes to town God help this place. They had three people serving, with two customers wanting drinks and it still took over 5 minutes to get served. Also the choice wasn't that great either.

You can Starbuck bash all you like but if the alternatives in Munich don't improve then this "evil imperium" WILL expand its borders into Munich.

However, for people who just wanna drink ordinary coffee, there are places all over the place that sell reasonable stuff, just non of that pseudo-whatever-chino stuff.

The last news that I heard (last night), Karstadt is looking to sell off Starbucks because it is loosing money big time! Normally this means that no new stores will open and the new owner will look to consolidate to only the profitable franchises.