Nagano is abuzz with talk about the Starbucks that will be opening this summer near the station. Poor Tully’s (already established here) just doesn’t have the sexy brand power of the green and white siren.
An article in a local paper last week told of a woman who collected 3,000 signatures on a petition asking Starbucks to come to Nagano. Turns out, according to a Starbucks rep, the company already had plans to do so. Hurry up, the impatient fans cried! Hosting the Winter Olympics was so last millennium; in order to be a truly important city, Nagano must have a Starbucks.
2 thoughts on “The Siren Call”
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Someone mentioned to me the other day that the backlash against Starbucks has begun — at least in the cities (where they’ve basically over-saturated the main shopping areas). Looks like the novelty of hideously overpriced mediocre coffee is wearing off.
Next stop for them I suppose is the rest of the country.
Well, you know how it is when it comes to trends reaching the hinterlands…
Switching to a conversation about good coffee: When I was in Tokyo recently, I noticed a Cafe Vita sign hanging outside a small coffee shop in Harajuku (down the small side street from the Wendy’s on Omotosando). Cafe Vita is my favorite Seattle coffee shop, and the place where I would buy my beans.
I popped inside to ask about getting some beans, and ended up staying to visit with the very friendly proprietor, who treated us to coffee and dessert while we talked about Seattle, where he travels every summer. He was kind enough to sell me a pound of beans even though he usually doesn’t sell whole beans. I couldn’t bring myself to pepper him with questions about the quality of the beans, and if they truly came fresh from the Seattle roasting shop. But I’m drinking a cup now and they are heaps better than the Tully’s beans I’ve been buying here in Nagano.