Why is everyone so down on Starbucks? Apparently they represent globalization.....run for your lives! I can think of a lot worse things to have in your neighbourhood. Residents should be happy....they found that property values go up by a certain percentage whenever a Starbucks enters the neighbourhood.But the real fact of the matter is....Starbucks has always treated their employees extremely well, buy as much coffee as they can thru the Certified Fair Trade movement (i.e. farmers don't get ripped), and they collect revenue from people who can geniunely afford to give it away.
And yet there's a Starbucks on Queen West that has been the target of multiple vandalizations. Now Magazine doesn't help with their ridiculously left slant....these guys make Jesse Jackson seem wishy-washy. I bet they'd encourage a little window smashing if the could run a cross-promotion with the Drake Hotel. Urban games!
Just seems to me like there are other more deserving corporate bullies to pick on.
3 comments:
Starbucks represents the yuppie element. If you're a home owner it's great because it means your neighborhood is going up in value. As a renter it's not so good because it means that your rent will go up.
Queen west which is populated by a lot of artsie fartsie people don't have lots of money. Most artists don't. This means that as rent increases these artists will eventually have to leave. The influx of yuppie people with the new condos also mean that the neighborhood that the artsies have made will be destroyed.
This could be good or bad overall but home is home. Relocating is always hard to do.
Starbucks really shouldn't get the brunt of the action. After all there is the Drake, the Gladstone, and the new condos. But then doesn't the Drake and the Gladstone advertise in Now and Eye? Hmmmm.
The Gladstone still has more caché with the art crowd than the Drake. The Drake is generally more populated by 905ers down for the weekend and wanting to feel über-urban.
As far as Starbucks is concerned, they do make a damn fine cup of java but it's true about owning vs renting when the big SB comes to one's 'hood. I think I only go into a SB maybe once a year, if that. Too expensive for us! We make our coffee at home for nickels a cup.
Well said bagelsmart :)
But I still see Starbucks as merely a symptom of the upscaling of a neighbourhood, not the cause. So pinning the blame on Starbucks for rising rents is a bit of a stretch.
Sometimes I think artists believe they are entitled to subsidized rents just because they can paint a flower on handbag. I've moved 4 times in 6 years and plan to move again in the spring, you know, that's life. It's a big city, rents go up. Also notice the crime goes down in those same neighbourhoods too and there's more stuff to do.....so you get what you pay for.
Development of core neighbourhoods are a better alternative than urban sprawl....especially in Toronto where traffic and smog are bad.
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