You read it here first: how the owner of a Little Falls' coffeehouse, The Fine Grind, is taking on the local Starbucks invasion with an aggressive billboard which shouts "we're here, support us." Now, The NY TImes picks up our story:
The idea was not to join the Starbucks haters, who can be found, it seems, either at Starbucks itself or on Internet sites like We Hate Starbucks or I Hate Starbucks.After all, Mrs. Mallek said, if not for Starbucks turning everyone in America into a coffee addict, it would have been very difficult to build a business essentially trying to be a smaller, friendlier alternative to Starbucks with better coffee.
“I don’t expect them to say, ‘Gee, Rhonda doesn’t want us here so maybe we should close down.’ I just want to remind people to remember us, to remember how important their purchasing decisions are, that sometimes it’s worth it to drive that extra two minutes, even if the Starbucks is right there.â€Americans might say they like David, but, in truth, we would much rather shop with Goliath. So the Malleks figure they need to pay attention to the branding as well as the coffee, to look local, but not too local. They are already thinking of more stores...
Mallek told Baristanet she got a call from the Times just after our story broke...hmmm, could there be some lurking going on?
--above, Rhonda and Jon Mallek, courtesy of The Find Grind.
Yanno, every time you mention St*rb**ks, an angel gets his wings. In other words, every time you mention it, they get free publicity. Just thought you'd like to know.