Actor Everett labels Starbucks a 'cancer'

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Hollywood star Rupert Everett has branded the Starbucks coffee chain a "cancer".

The actor is backing a campaign to boycott a new branch close to his home in Bloomsbury, central London.
It will be the first major chain to open on Lamb's Conduit Street, which is famed for its small, independent shops.

Everett, 47, said: "Starbucks is spreading like a cancer.
"Nobody in the neighbourhood wants it, including me. "There are plenty of diners and coffee shops there already."
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Link.

Obviously, he doesn't trust the market to decide whether anyone wants Starbucks there or not. If he really hates it so much, and he's so convinced it's a "cancer," why not say nothing when they move in, and let them lose gobs of money when they move into a neighborhood where they're not wanted?

Somehow, I'm betting Starbucks has done a little research and discovered that, contrary to what Everett says, some people would love to be able to buy a 3-euro cup of latte.
 
He's an idiot. The best way to tell if people want a Starbucks is to see what happens when it opens. If it's empty all day, it will be closed.

I would like to bet £50 that if it opens, it will still be there, full of people, this time next year.
 
tkingdoll said:
He's an idiot. The best way to tell if people want a Starbucks is to see what happens when it opens. If it's empty all day, it will be closed.

I would like to bet £50 that if it opens, it will still be there, full of people, this time next year.
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Yep. It's funny - no one ever wants a Starbucks, McDonald's or a Wal-Mart, but somehow when they open they are packed.
 
HarryKeogh; said:
I need a cool shorthand name :(
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Hargh?

Hmm... sounds like a Scotsman trying to clear phlegm. Gonna have to work on this...
 
I suspect it is because people always know (or think they know) what their getting...Starbuck's coffee is always essentially the same, a big mac is always essentially a big mac. Just a theory...I'm sure there are many other factors...advertising saturation, infatuation with icons and brands, laziness, etc.
 
Why is it bad or idiotic that he and 999 other residents/traders are campaigning against the opening of a Starbucks?
 
headscratcher4 said:
I suspect it is because people always know (or think they know) what their getting...Starbuck's coffee is always essentially the same, a big mac is always essentially a big mac. Just a theory...I'm sure there are many other factors...advertising saturation, infatuation with icons and brands, laziness, etc.
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IT's good and bad; you'll be driving through some unfamiliar town and then BAM, all the same malls, shops and traffic around them. It's crazy.
 
Darat said:
Why is it bad or idiotic that he and 999 other residents/traders are campaigning against the opening of a Starbucks?
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Because of his reasons. I don't think anyone's against his right to protest, but we can certainly critisize the reasons behind them.
 
Darat said:
Why is it bad or idiotic that he and 999 other residents/traders are campaigning against the opening of a Starbucks?
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Well, if only 1000 people live, work and pass through the area, maybe he has a point. Somehow, I doubt it.
 
Image and brand name usually help but not always. I grew up in a very Italian neighborhood and a few years back they tried opening a Sbarro chain pizza joint. It went under in a couple of months. There were just too many good, mom n' pop pizza joints in the neighborhood.

There's a doughnut shop called Voodoo Doughnut that I read about recently in Fortune or Money or something. They offer unique doughnuts, have cool in-store events and since opening they've put several big name doughnut shops out of business in their surrounding area. They've made their doughnut shop into a destination.

If the coffee shops are worried about Starbucks moving in they should do their homework and offer the customers what Starbucks can't and they'll survive.

And if Rupert is right and no one in the neighborhood wants it they have nothing to worry about.
 
HarryKeogh said:
Image and brand name usually help but not always. I grew up in a very Italian neighborhood and a few years back they tried opening a Sbarro chain pizza joint. It went under in a couple of months. There were just too many good, mom n' pop pizza joints in the neighborhood.

There's a doughnut shop called Voodoo Doughnut that I read about recently in Fortune or Money or something. They offer unique doughnuts, have cool in-store events and since opening they've put several big name doughnut shops out of business in their surrounding area. They've made their doughnut shop into a destination.

If the coffee shops are worried about Starbucks moving in they should do their homework and offer the customers what Starbucks can't and they'll survive.

And if Rupert is right and no one in the neighborhood wants it they have nothing to worry about.
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People are never lured by anything else than a superior product?

Betamax, anyone?
 
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