Here They Come

Here is an article talking about our friendly green giant Starbucks. This article is hitting somewhat close to home however and it makes you think. Great Falls is a just under 200 miles from Bozeman and will be the 4th city in Montana to host a Starbucks store. The first thing everyone asks is if Starbucks is going to overrun all other small, independent coffee houses similar to the destruction caused to mom and pops in the "Walmart" market. I don't think so. Many small coffee owners in Great Falls are confident that this entrance will only increase their sales over time. While Starbucks is clearly a strong competitor, Smith says the company is rarely to blame for driving out small players in the coffee business. "National studies completed outside of Starbucks have shown that when Starbucks enters a community, the sheer demand for specialty coffee goes up," he said. "So we think there is plenty of room in the market for independent retailers." This is going to happen here in Bozeman and like I said a few days ago, was going to happen in the building we are now trying to occupy. The way I see it is that there is demand in these areas and that my market research was a success! If this giant was picking between the space I thought would be great and another, then I feel very confident in Cafe Evoke's success. I hope to be able to work with this company when they do make their appearance in this town. I think that is the only way to truly show you are committed to do business "in ways that produce social, environmental and economic benefits for communities in which it does business," ~~be bold