In New York, said Alan Hilowitz, a regional Starbucks spokesman, ''People literally will not cross the street to get coffee.'' (It probably did not hurt that Howard Schultz, the company's chairman, was raised in Brooklyn.) Among other things, New Yorkers demand an unusual degree of convenience. The Beat generation coffee houses in Greenwich Village were about poetry and protest, not coffee, and well into the 1980's New York restaurants responded to a request for decaffeinated coffee by placing a packet of Sanka on a saucer.īut Starbucks noted some facts about New Yorkers, and turned them to the company's advantage. Until relatively recently, coffee in New York meant stamina-enhancing fuel. ''They are resistant to chains and they do favor their own native concepts and brands.'' ''They have the luxury of many choices,'' she said. City dwellers are famously impatient, and they pride themselves on their discerning tastes and disdain for off-the-rack conformity, said Arlene Spiegel, a restaurant consultant. Damian have often turned a frosty shoulder to out-of-town brands, as three chains based in the Southwest - EatZi's Market and Bakery, Boston Market and California Pizza Kitchen - have learned in recent years. Since coming to New York in 1994, the Seattle-based chain has surpassed even the drug retailer Duane Reade in number of stores - and Duane Reade, with 113 stores, started in the city in 1959. Damian said - and yet they drink Starbucks coffee by the gallon. New Yorkers love to complain about Starbucks and make fun of the chain's explosive growth - ''obviously predatory and very capitalistic,'' Mr. At least here it's not much of a gamble.''Ībout as fast as you can say doppio espresso macchiato, Starbucks shops have sprouted all over Manhattan, with 124 at last count and four more on the way. ''If you are accustomed to good coffee,'' he said, ''it doesn't cut it to go to places where they endlessly fill your cup with brown water. Damian thinks that $3 is a lot to charge for a small latte, but he is willing to pay, if a little reluctantly, to avoid the unexpected. ''You can't really avoid them,'' he said. Damian, 31, admits that he can often be found at a Starbucks shop. He likes to drink it at Java N Jazz, an independent cafe near Union Square, which he says has more character than Starbucks. Mark Damian, an East Village writer with a pierced chin, consumes a lot of coffee - five or more cups of strong brew every day.
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