September 2- 8, 2004

cityspace

The Onslaught Continues

by Moges Abebe

Though Philadelphia is currently home to a dozen Starbucks cafes, the pricey-coffee behemoth recently saw plans for yet another shop pass muster with a pair of local civic associations. And with that support pocketed, the city's newest Starbucks will soon open its pots for business on the ground floor of the St. James apartment building, a recently completed 45-story high-rise on Washington Square at Eighth Street.

Billed as Philadelphia's largest residential tower, the St. James building features 306 residential units — ranging from $1,495 to $14,900 a month — and nine floors of parking spaces with monthly rates ranging from $185 to $350. (Talk about a target audience.)

Much like the Starbucks that doubled as a mustering point for Real World groupies at Third and Arch this summer, the new cafe will offer outdoor seating.

It's that sidewalk presence that usually has community groups concerned about what effect the Starbucks would have on their streets — namely by way of litter. In this case, however, there was very little dissent from those groups, or from local coffee-shop owners who might be worried that the chain would tap into their business.

"Apparently," says Sarah Batcheler, a director with the Washington Square West Civic Association (WSWCA), "what happens when a second coffee shop moves near another one — according to both the Starbucks lawyer and the owner of the building in which [neighborhood coffee shop] La Cigale operates — is that the traffic to the first cafe actually increases, because the area becomes known as a place to get coffee."

Adds the civic association's president, Judith Applebaum, "We don't want franchises to push out small-business people, but sometimes they can have a positive impact. Thirteenth and Pine, for example, was a bad corner, and Starbucks [at Broad and Pine] really did improve that area and didn't hurt any small businesses."

For his part, Matt DeJulio — administrator of the Society Hill Civic Association — says concerns that coffee drinkers would rudely dump their empty cups all over neighborhood streets and sidewalks have also been assuaged.

"People in our association didn't think the fact that a national franchise was moving in was a problem," says DeJulio. "Actually, it was reassuring, because Starbucks has a reputation for being clean."

Coffee shops in other areas of town could soon see for themselves whether those theories hold true as Starbucks has plans for three more cafes in the city, including businesses at Broad and Jackson streets and 20th and Market streets.