Starbucks Corporation

I'm just going to come out and admit it: I usually go to Starbucks every day. In the wintertime, I enjoy a venti drip with soymilk and a shot of classic sweetener ($2.28), and my favorite barista, Shannon (though I frequent a few different locations) knows to get it ready when she sees me coming.

The current conventional wisdom is that Starbucks is homogenized, corporate and uninviting; people love to yap about their favorite boutique coffee place.  read more »

'Wichcraft has returned to Flatiron. The upscale sandwich shop, started by Craft restaurant owner Tom Colicchio, opened an outpost earlier this week just west of Broadway on 20th Street. The store is the chain's eighth location in the city.

In 2003, 'wichcraft opened its first outlet on 19th Street between Park Avenue and Broadway just around the corner from Craft, but had to move when the building was sold. "We have been looking to come back to this area since we left," said Sisha Ortuzar, 'wichcraft's vice president of Concept and Development.

The chain has leased the whole building at 11 East 20th Street and plans on moving its corporate offices into the upper floors next week. This is not the end of 'wichcraft's expansion. In the coming months, look for stores in Rockefeller Center and at 47th Street and Lexington. The home to the $9.50 chicken salad sandwich also has locations in Las Vegas and San Francisco.

Are we witnessing the beginnings of the biggest takeover in an industry since Starbucks? Stay tuned.

- Mark Wellborn

Ever wonder why Starbucks opens so many locations so near one another? Because the tactic works, apparently. People, simply put, will not wait in long lines for their caffeine fixes.

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday noted Starbucks' success in West Coast cities like Vancouver and San Francisco:

No matter how badly people wanted a latte, if the line looked too long, they'd keep walking.

Opening another store nearby was the retail equivalent of basketball's boxing out, stationing yourself under the basket to get the rebound so the other team doesn't. Starbucks first saw this phenomenon in Vancouver in the early 1990s, when it opened a second store kitty-corner to a small store on a busy corner. To everyone's surprise, people came to the corners from different directions, so both stores did well. The logic was so simple that it almost sounded like a corporate version of that old chicken joke:

"Why did Starbucks cross the street?"

"To get to the customers on the other side."

- Tom Acitelli

Starbucks seems to have left another local coffee house in its wake. Earlier this week, The Bean Coffee and Tea, located at 118 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side, closed its doors after being in operation just four months.

While it seems the demise of the caffeine outpost, which also has a location in the East Village, could easily be attributed to the Starbucks that sits just feet away, Bean manager Guy Pujlia blamed the size of the store.

"The space was just too small," Mr. Pujlia told The Real Estate. "People would get tired of waiting in line and just go down the street to Starbucks."

Rumors have been floating around the neighborhood recently that Ini Ani, another local coffee shop, might also be falling the way of The Bean Coffee and Tea. However, an employee at the Stanton Street store, notable for the corrugated cardboard that covers its walls, confirmed that this was indeed a rumor. Long live the independent coffee house! For now.

- Mark Wellborn

Recent U.S. Senate candidate K.T.  read more »

For the record, I don’t care for shopping malls. Or Starbucks.  read more »

Some guys just really like their Brooklyn Smoked Dunkel.

A line of roughly 15 men had gathered outside the Blind Tiger in Greenwich Village at 4:01 p.m. on Thursday, when the renowned beer-lover's mecca finally reopened its doors--this time, with actual beer.

"People have been waiting for, like, a year for this," noted the last guy in line, who added that he'd taken the day off from work.

After 10 years at Hudson and 10th streets, the much beloved Tiger was forced to move in late 2005 in order to make way for a new Starbucks.

Perhaps taking a hint from the Seattle caffeine giant, the venue reopened last fall at the corner of Bleecker and Jones--primarily as a coffee bar, however, on account of a little liquor-license brouhaha with neighborhood politico Deb Glick.

As boozehounds waited patiently for the true Tiger's second-coming on Thursday, Eater provided constant updates.

Earlier this month, the bar finally got its license to swill. Ale aficionados turned out pronto.

By 4:15 p.m. on Thursday, the crowd inside easily exceeded 50--predominantly made up of burly-looking dudes, but at least three females were present.

- Chris Shott

So this is the "new look" Dunkin' Donuts: garish orange and pink signage, comfortless metallic chairs, raffish menu graphics.

Kinda like the old-look Dunkin' Donuts--and catering to the same ol' stereotypical clientele: cops.

Around 3 p.m. on Thursday, the newest corner location for D.D. franchise Centurian Plaza Donuts LLC, located at 20th Street and Third Avenue, was crawling with recruits in Police Academy uniforms.

This reporter was expecting more distinct changes in appearance and customer base, after reading January's Crain's article.

The company was said to be unveiling a "more upscale store model," in order to lure white-collar workers away from Starbucks. The new 243 Third Avenue location, which opened on Wednesday, was supposed to be the premier outpost of this a la mode makeover.

The change was so subtle, however, I needed to hike six blocks to the next nearest Dunkin' Donuts on Third Avenue, at 26th Street, to even notice.

It seems to come down to this: The new look features trendy track lighting in the seating area; the old model uses mere Kmart-style flourescent bulbs.

If the purveyors of the big Box O' Joe truly want to hone in on the yuppie crowd, perhaps they should borrow a page from the Starbucks playbook--and get themselves a decent wireless-Internet provider.

It took about 20 minutes for this observer to hijack an external wi-fi connection. By that time, my marble-frosted donut and small black coffee were completely consumed.

- Chris Shott

"Oooh, is that the macchiato?" asked one black-frame spectacled customer seated near the doorway, as employees of Smith Street's newest java joint presented her with a tray of small cups topped with caramel and whipped cream around 7 p.m. on Thursday night.

Handouts seemed in great demand, as Starbucks officially started doing business this week at the corner of Smith and Wyckoff streets--the burgeoning brand's first location along this hip Brooklyn strip.

Soon after the sample-tray servers departed, another woman sporting a do-rag began making the rounds, asking laptop users seated at the venue's nine tables to spare a dollar or so.

At least one customer was feeling the coffee company's stated mission to "[c]ontribute positively to our communities."

"I gave her two dollars," said a smartly dressed, computer-equipped gentleman at a nearby table, "to leave me alone."

"She's been here twice today," remarked a store employee.

Behold, the fledgling caffeine outpost's first regular!

- Chris Shott

Seattle's tenacious Cinnamon Dolce Latte mongers are at it again, bringing the "Starbucks Experience" to two of the world's last remaining regions yet underserved by the ubiquitous coffee company.

"Recognizing a void in the West Village market," in the words of retail broker Marc Finkel, Starbucks will be taking up 1,800 square feet at 518 Hudson Street, in a deal announced late last week.

The company is also expanding its presence in Upper Manhattan, signing a 10-year lease at the corner of West 145th Street and Bradhurst Avenue, in a deal announced on Wednesday.

The Central Harlem location is part of the Gotham Organization's mixed-use development, The Langston, which will also include a brand-spankin' new New York Sports Club--thus providing a one-stop shop for local folks looking to get fully razzed up for 30-minutes on the elliptical.

One tall- and one grande-sized press release comin' up after the jump.  read more »

- Chris Shott

Rudy Giuliani's spokeswoman said that the campaign book that was passed on to Ben may have been stolen.

A top campaign aide for Eliot Spitzer is now a lobbyist.

Thursday is Day 1 for the new MTA boss.

Starbucks will stop offering trans-fatty food on Wednesday, so hurry.

More Massachusetts legislators supported gay marriage when they voted on the issue today.

Marcus Gadson makes the case for Barack Obama, saying, "Plenty of other Presidents who had decades of experience and lots of high positions in government have been failures as chief executive."

And pictured above is the Capitol last night.

-- Azi Paybarah

WNBC-TV is reporting that an SUV crashed into Duane Reade at 1270 Broadway and 33rd Street this afternoon, injuring several people:

Three of the victims were store workers, one was the driver and one was a pedestrian.

Customers looking to use their Dollar Rewards cards must now track down one of only, like, 134 other locations in Manhattan.  read more »

- Chris Shott

Artsy entreprenurial couple Vahap Avsar and Lexy Funk celebrated the opening of their newest Brooklyn Industries (BKI) store last night in Greenwich Village.

The founders of the burgeoning Williamsburg-based apparel and assessories line took pride in besting Starbucks in an apparent tenant-application competition to lease the 1,300-square-foot space, located at the corner of Hudson and Christopher Streets.

The site was formerly home to Christopher Street Books--a store of "dubious reputation," according to the company's press release--which closed in 2005.

Upon scouting the location, the new tenants took note of what they called "cubicles," located in the back, among other clutter. "You couldn't even see the space with all the piles of rubble," said Ms. Funk. "It was a complete mess."

Significant renovations were required of the century-old brick building, which suffered a structural "bulge" last year, prior to its orderly stocking of shelves with the company's signature graphic tees and hoodies.

Company store designer William Harvey has since decorated the space in what BKI is calling "a late 1970s Fire Island vibe," featuring many mirrors.

With its recent addition of a Chelsea store, the local answer to Diesel now boasts eight locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn but has no immediate plans for further expansion. "We're built out for now," said Mr. Avsar.  read more »

Yet the couple also spoke of future aspirations of opening locations near Union Square and the Upper West Side--and even expanding outside New York. "San Francisco would be perfect for us," said Ms. Funk, adding, however, that closer markets Boston and Philadelphia were probably more feasible.

- Chris Shott

What do you do for a second act when your first novel spent more than a year on the best-seller list  read more »

The Real Deal reports the tragic news that some of Manhattan's 175 Starbucks coffee shops may soon be closing. The figures aren't quite clear, though they have something to do with 25% profitability margins, 1,500 vs. 3,000-square-foot stores, and "the word 'saturation.'"

Starbucks denies everything; everyone else celebrates.  read more »

- Max Abelson

I have ugly heels.  read more »

I have ugly heels.  read more »

Hilly and I had been out late the night before.  read more »

Hilly and I had been out late the night before.  read more »

The big Forest City Ratner high-security press conference today produced little news but lots of images: fewer crooked buildings and more straight lines, more titanium siding and less Las Vegas. This is all about how it looks, so take a peek inside.  read more »

Last week I was standing in the Ralph Lauren store on 71st and Madison admiring a $400 cashmere todd  read more »

Tonight, Tuesday, NARAL will hold an event at Hofstra directed at the eight state senators in Long Island that voted against over the counter morning after pills.

Tomorrow, NYC DOT reviews designs for--to the relief of Starbucks chains citywide--public toilets!

Then, activists and community leaders from the tri-state area will gather at 32BJ headquarters to discuss the importance of renewing key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, just before the Department of Homeland Security answers questions at a poorly named NYU panel discussion (pdf).

And Stonewall Dems hold their monthly meeting at the LGBT Center featuring Richard Brodsky, George Arzt, Jonathan Tasini, and David Cohen, candidate for Civil Court.

—Nicole Brydson

Daily News editor Dawn Eden writes in response to criticism of a recent piece in her section that, to me, seemed to gloss over the politics of abortion, and that led a reader to apparently discover that the profile subject was spreading misinformation:

"Moral rehab for reporters" --I like that. Thanks for the plug, Ben.

Regarding Ms. Chapman’s grievances, I stand by Colin O’Brien’s excellent story.

As the story states, abortion is not Bridge to Life’s mission. The center has helped hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women support babies whom they would not be able to support otherwise.

Regarding Ms. Chapman’s other criticism in the comments, she is correct that Yahoo Yellow Pages does not list 11 abortion clinics in College Point itself. I found that statistic via searching for abortion clinics in Flushing, Queens, which includes College Point. Here are the results of that search. To be accurate, should have said that there are 11 abortion clinics in the College Point area and the omission was my mistake. Nonetheless, the truth remains that it is easier to find an abortion clinic in Flushing than it is to find a Starbucks. But ask any one of those abortion clinics to give you diapers, clothes, food, toys, and a housing referral, and you’d have better luck asking Starbucks for a free grande mochaccino. That’s why Bridge to Life fills an important need in the community and, in my mind, deserves all the recognition it gets.

Ben, I hope that while you were searching for Big Town , you also found the very first one, on Frank Jump, a schoolteacher who has been living with HIV for over 20 years. Also, check out today’s story (which will be available here) about former slave Simon Deng’s Sudan Freedom Walk.

The Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier checks the nabe's barometer after the recent closings of several mom-and-pop stores, which were then turned into a Dunkin' Donuts and other neighborhood-unspecific commercial ventures.

Words of wisdom: “Every dollar you spend at Starbucks goes to Seattle …. ” But with some spaces commanding $16,000 a month in rent, a goodly portion of that dollar is going to the landlord.

-Matthew Grace

Spitzer campaign manager Ryan Toohey confirms that Christine Anderson is joining the campaign as communications director.

Anderson had her hands full as Teresa Heinz Kerry's spokeswoman on that campaign and then, for a time, as the spokeswoman for the Democrats' legal operation in the tense run-up to the election. She also did time at NYC2012.

I met Anderson at a Starbucks in Fort Lauderdale, where she came to yell at me after she learned I was staking out the strip mall containing the Democrats office from another (slightly nicer) strip mall down the road. She wound up, grudgingly, giving me a tour, which wound up in this story.

All their hard-work, skill -- a number of partners at top New York firms, among many others, flew south to watch the polls -- and secrecy, of course, were in vain, as Bush wiped Kerry out in Florida. But at the time it felt vital.

Other trivia: Anderson is married to Bill Clinton's last White House press secretary, Jake Siewert.

The Brooklyn Papers (pdf) has a handy chart listing the various business closings up and down Court Street that have the nabe all up in arms. It seems that some of these closings are just rumors (the Cobble Hill Cinema's demise, it seems, is greatly exaggerated). But some are for real.

After the jump, the rundown.  read more »

In what looks like a concerted effort to lay waste to the intestinal lining of Observer staffers, another cafe is opening up on Union Square at the corner of 17th Street and Broadway. This time it's not a Starbucks (although it is across the street from one of three Starbucks--if you count the cafe at Barnes & Noble--that sit on the park). It's called Tisserie, and in addition to coffee, it'll have artisanal bread and other munchies.

Now, how many cafes ring the park? There's the aforementioned Starbuckses, an Au Bon Pain, a Whole Foods, Le Pain Quotidien on 19th Street, and let's not forget Joe on 13th off University (the best Americano). Anybody know of any more? And isn't this an indication that the park just doesn't need another restuarant in the old pavilion? Or our we too obsessed about private biz in the public park?  read more »

-Matthew Grace

Chalk one up for the evildoers: A man told the police that he was walking past 203 East 89th Street  read more »

The Park Slope bar Patio Lounge caused a fuss last month for banning children.  read more »

Chalk one up for the evildoers: A man told the police that he was walking past 203 East 89th Street  read more »

A former book peddler remembers the bohemian East Village, before all the Starbucks-sipping college students, naive tourists, and architectural loft buyers. (Sure, junkies and graffiti artists are pretty cool, but wasn't Tompkins Square more radical a hundred years earlier?) Regardless, if the poverty of NYU student life gets you down, try squatting in the Sculpture for Living.

Howard Stern must already be dipping into that $500 million Sirius contract six weeks before his more to satelite radio. Although Mr. Stern already had a $20 million piece of land, the radio personality just purchased a $29.5 million estate next door, according to the New York Post.

Kelly Ripa and husband, Mark Consuelos put their 5,000-square-foot loft on the market for $7.5 million, according to New York magazine. The couple's duplex upstairs is apparently ready.

One lucky rent-stabilized tenant at the old Mayflower Hotel (paying only $200 a month) was bought out for $15 million, according to the Daily News. But developers of 15 CPW already have $650 million in signed contracts, so they made out alright.

At open houses, watch out for the "human-sized lockable cage outfitted with whips, hooks, paddles and bondage devices."

Take a look at the future facelift of Alice Tully Hall, as designed by high-line friendly Diller Scofidio + Renfro.  read more »

Finally, tired of the retro car-theft genre, video game players are turning to real estate development. Welcome to Tycoon City!

-Michael Calderone

Fast food restaurants, educational and medical facilities not permitted to lease space in the 52-story building include: Taco Bell, McDonald's, Wendy's, juvenile or adult day-care centers, social-services offices, job training centers, and auction houses (except "high-end auction houses specializing in art and historical artifacts").

That's according to The Village Voice's Paul Moses who harshly criticizes The New York Times this week over lease stipulations in the Renzo Piano-designed tower that the Gray Lady will soon call home.

Thankfully, soy latte-addicted reporters can relax, because Starbucks is permitted to set up shop downstairs. Huzzah!

Our personal favorite exclusion is any government office where you can show up "without appointment." It's a well-known fact that the huddled masses never call ahead (or have their names on a list).

Surely, David Brooks is already mining this article for column-worthy cultural signifiers.

His colleagues on the editorial page have already weighed in on the principle: "The Supreme Court's ruling yesterday that the economically troubled city of New London, Conn., can use its power of eminent domain to spur development was a welcome vindication of cities' ability to act in the public interest. It also is a setback to the 'property rights' movement, which is trying to block government from imposing reasonable zoning and environmental regulations. Still, the dissenters provided a useful reminder that eminent domain must not be used for purely private gain."

"The 'property rights' movement!" How charmingly Marxist. Ahem.

In the mean time, The Real Estate is reminded of The Times' three-week series on class in America that began last May.

The introductory piece posed the challenging question: "Why does it appear that class is fading as a force in American life?"

So coy!

"Today, the country has gone a long way toward an appearance of classlessness. Americans of all sorts are awash in luxuries that would have dazzled their grandparents. Social diversity has erased many of the old markers. It has become harder to read people's status in the clothes they wear, the cars they drive, the votes they cast, the god they worship, the color of their skin. The contours of class have blurred; some say they have disappeared."

We say the difference between Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks coffee ain't the coffee.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

I don’t know why my date’s first words to me were “You’re late,” even though I arrived jus  read more »

I don’t know why my date’s first words to me were “You’re late,” even  read more »

"SEATTLE, July 22--Inside a former Starbucks warehouse, this city's bomb squad headquarters, the police chief and 15 captains and sergeants--accompanied by a robot that can extract explosives from packages and pin down a suspect--huddled the other day to tackle a topic suddenly urgent to the police across the nation: suicide bombers," Suicide Bombings Bring Urgency to Police in U.S., by Sarah Kershaw, The New York Times, July 25, 2005. "SAN FRANCISCO, July 23 - The day after President Bush announced his first Supreme Court nominee, his opponent in the hotly disputed 2000 election was a continent away from the White House, sitting in a darkened conference room in a converted coffee warehouse here," For Gore, a Reincarnation on the Other Side of the Camera, by Jacques Steinberg, ibid. —Matt Haber  read more »

The Olsen Twins are renting out their famed Morton Square dormplex for $35,000 a month.

Last summer, the city was buzzing about incoming freshmen Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen's big move to Manhattan. The just-turned-18-year-old actresses purchased four penthouses for $7.3 million, creating a luxurious 5,725-square-foot spread in the West Village. Despite a flurry of Starbucks sightings, the "dumpster dressing" sisters never moved in.

Since March, their West Village penthouse has been listed for $9.495 million with Charlotte Van Doren at Stribling and Associates. It hadn't sold, and just yesterday was re-listed as a rental--which, according to Stribling's Web site, it has just gone to contract. No word on who snapped it up yet.

Ms. Van Doren declined to comment. The Real Estate contacted representatives for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, and is waiting for a comment.  read more »

- Michael Calderone

They've had a good run, but are gay men finally losing some ground as America's default arbiters of  read more »

A Long Way Down, by Nick Hornby. Riverhead, 333 pages, $24.95.  read more »

I'm having an affair with my husband.  read more »

There were always two parts to the behavior of Bloomberg's aides toward Tom Ognibene -- the first fairly standard, the second a little thuggish.

First, on January 12, Bloomberg campaign chief Kevin Sheekey and City Hall aide Rich Wager meet the former Councilman in Starbucks and offer him a job on the campaign. Ognibene turns them down later that week, as he told us this morning. There's been some suggestion that the offer might have broken a law. But it's also politics as usual, and Ognibene told us he ends that day on good terms with the mayor's men, and without any plans to talk to the press -- much less his longtime tormentor at the Voice! -- about his meeting.

Then, on Saturday, there's another offer, and a threat. Ognibene wouldn't go into detail about this, but we've learned elsewhere that, on Saturday, Wager spoke to Ognibene's friend Dennis Gallagher, a Councilman from Queens. Wager told him that the title of Counsel to the Mayor was on offer. He also warned him with, Ognibene told us, "words to the effect that, 'Are you sure that case in Manhattan is closed?'" in reference to a bribery scandal in which Ognibene was never charged.

Ognibene wouldn't confirm that Wager was the one delivering what sounded to him, and to us, like an implicit threat. He only said that the conversation took place between his ally and "a very decent young man, who either made a gross mistake or was used" and who, Ognibene speculated, "is deeply pained." We learned from another source that this was Wager.

Now Wager, who works near us in the basement of City Hall, certainly doesn't have the authority to offer top city jobs. We also doubt that he would be in a position to threaten that an investigation be reopened. He hasn't responded to our voicemail as to who asked him to deliver those messages to Gallagher.

In any case, a few days later, Ognibene gets a call from the Voice's Tom Robbins, who had covered the bribery scandal. (Ognibene adamantly maintains his innocence.) Ognibene guesses that this is the consummation of Wager's threat, and that Robbins has been tipped by City Hall. So he tells Robbins the whole story.

We'd just note that the real political miscalculation here wasn't the one that has turned up in the papers and on certain sanctimonious blogs: the job offer. The miscalculation was the threat, which provoked Ognibene to go public with the whole thing. We'd love to know whose idea that was, but Wager doesn't seem inclined to tell us.

Ognibene, in any case, told us that the threat had the opposite of its intended effect. Once he'd been threatened, he felt that he couldn't let himself be intimidated. "You never threaten someone," he said. "Then they're locked in."  read more »

He also noted with a chuckle that the mayor is spending today on the Staten Island Ferry, doing what he considers make-up work with Republican voters.

"I already consider myself an effective candidate," he said.

Halloween seems to be turning into a year-round holiday, at least for crooks. At 2:33 p.m. on Nov.  read more »

We’re just a bunch of fat pigs, drowning in a sea of vulgarity.  read more »

Your skin is a horror.  read more »

A 31-year-old male TV writer who lives in Silver Lake was sitting at the crowded, dingy 101 Coffee S  read more »

Random acts of kindness are certainly to be encouraged.  read more »

'Home-Invasion Robbery'In House of Ill Repute  read more »

Not long ago, I made a massage appointment at my health club, an overpriced institution with a crank  read more »

The setting is the bar at McHale's in Hell's Kitchen, just after dark, where a woman beside me is ta  read more »

Gouging decorators are a part of Manhattan lore going back to the 19th century.  read more »

My friend, myreader. Slippery streets. Gray skies, mufflers pulled tight, boots stained by  read more »