Seeking Starbucks status
Towns line up to lure company with its desirable demographics
For years, Franklin has wanted a sign that it had arrived. Something that would show that its residents are valued and its location ripe for business.
The symbol that town officials have been looking for? The familiar green, black, and white logo of
Throughout the suburbs, the coffee chain has become a symbol for communities trying to fit the stereotype of a Starbucks customer: educated, vibrant, and wealthy.
''We've grown and attracted the middle- and upper-class type of people," said Robert Vallee, chairman of the Town Council in Franklin, one of the fastest growing communities in the state. ''We want better education, performing arts, things like that. This town is ready for a Starbucks."
Vallee, while adding that he doesn't like the ''yuppie coffee" that Starbucks serves up, says that a new store would mark the town's transformation from a working-class Dunkin' Donuts suburb.
Indeed, while Starbucks stores dot the suburbs west of Boston, most right now are in the wealthiest communities. Newton has seven within its borders. Bellingham doesn't have one within at least 10 miles.
It's the old notion of ''if you build it, they will come." Local business leaders say that if a Starbucks goes up, other like-minded businesses are bound to follow.
''Starbucks is considered a prize in any community, because it serves a certain demographic," said Al Lima, city planner in Marlborough, which has a Starbucks at each end of the city. ''It is kind of an upscale place. Most high-end communities don't discourage it, because their residents want a high-end place to go and get good strong coffee."
Marlborough, long known as a gritty industrial city, can support two branches largely because of its location along the high-tech I-495 corridor, Lima said. ''People come here on business from [technology companies on] the West Coast, and they want to be able to get that dark West Coast coffee."
As of last month, Starbucks had 5,784 locations in the United States and 2,335 abroad. It's expanding at a remarkable clip, opening three to four stores a day. Last month, the chain reported $517 million in revenue, a 26 percent increase over the same period last year.
And while it may not be as prominent as New England's 54-year-old homegrown coffee and doughnut chain, Starbucks is the new kid on the block. Where Dunkin' Donuts is familiar, Starbucks is exotic. Dunkin' has the comfort of old jeans, but Starbucks is a chic pair of slacks.
A spokesman for Dunkin' Donuts rejects the notion that they are a ''blue-collar" shop, adding that they're starting to appeal to a broader range of customers by offering lattes and espressos.
''We consider ourselves to be very democratic," said Grant Benson, the Dunkin' Donuts vice president for marketing on the East Coast. ''In our parking lot there will be a Chevy, a BMW, and a pickup truck. We really cater to everybody, in all walks of life."
Because Dunkin' Donuts shops are franchised, most stores are opened by local residents who see their communities as ripe for the pink and orange, Benson said, and few communities have outright asked the chain to come.
At Starbucks, it's a different story.
The town of Sharon courted Starbucks for five years before securing a store for its downtown, which local leaders hoped would revitalize its businesses. A new restaurant opened shortly after Starbucks came, and several other stores have followed.
In Brockton, a city that once had a reputation for murders, drug dealing, and prostitution, city officials said they knew their city had been revived when a Starbucks opened in a strip mall.
''It is the private sector's reaffirming that the city has changed and changed for the positive," Brockton Mayor John T. Yunits Jr. said at the time.
Newton's seven stores are far the most in the area. A branch recently opened in Newton Centre in what was a Seattle's Best Coffee site. The new store, located about 200 yards from another, gives the city one Starbucks for every 12,000 residents.
''It's nothing that we're doing," said Mayor David B. Cohen. ''It's just Newton being Newton."
And in many ways, Newton provides the ideal demographics for the coffee chain. It has urban components but still has a suburban feel. Nearly seven out of 10 residents have a bachelor's degree and the average home is valued at $670,000. The city is also made up of 13 villages, which fits nicely into Starbucks' marketing strategy to promote ''community," with its bulletin boards and concerts.
Newton also provides a microcosm of Starbucks marketing strategy: All of its stores are in the city's wealthiest areas and none in West Newton or Nonantum, where there are three Dunkin' Donuts.
''There's definitely a pattern where [Starbucks is] in more affluent communities," said Winter, 32, a software developer from Houston who has spent $10,000 over the past seven years trying to visit every Starbucks in the world. ''The suburbs are expanding, and Starbucks is going along with them. I can't think of any reason other than that's where the people are going. And people in the suburbs are more affluent, which is perfect for Starbucks."
Winter, whose legal name is John Winter Smith, has visited -- and had a small cup of coffee at -- 4,300 stores worldwide, including every Starbucks in the 37 communities covered by Globe West.
Jennifer Guebert, a New England marketing manager for Starbucks, said the coffee chain studies traffic flow, existing businesses, and demographics when looking at potential locations.
''But there is no cookie-cutter plan," she said. ''It would have to be a good business decision for us, but we find that our customers are evolving. The type of customer that comes into our store is so varied in terms of their income levels and cultural background."
Starbucks increasingly is expanding into more ethnically diverse blue-collar areas, she said. The chain last year opened a store in Worcester, for example, and more recently, one in Dorchester.
The Starbucks real estate department gets a steady stream of promotional packets from communities courting the store, Guebert said. There are also calls from business leaders, legislators, and local chambers of commerce.
But Guebert has some bad news for Franklin officials: She said there are no plans right now to locate a store there. ''I would hope that Franklin will be considered in the future," she said.
Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle in 1971. It came to Boston in 1994, opening its first Massachusetts store on Charles Street on Beacon Hill. That same year it bought the Coffee Connection, a coffee chain that had 22 stores, and gained a regional foothold.
But critics, who refer to the coffee chain as ''Charbucks" because the coffee roast is so dark, fear that the store's corporate muscle will wipe out any local flavor.
For three years, East Milton residents fought with Starbucks over a store it planned to open in the town center. Residents spoke at public hearings, petitioned the Board of Selectmen, and filed a lawsuit in Land Court. But it wasn't enough to derail the project, and Starbucks opened earlier this year, three doors down from a local cafe.
In October 2003, a small Minnesota town began an advertising campaign to support local businesses. The mayor preached against ''corporate sameness" and the ads had taglines that said: ''Secede from Starbucks Nation."
Red Barn Coffee Roasters, based in Hopkinton, competes with Starbucks at three of its seven locations. Most recently, Starbucks opened a store on Route 9 in Southborough, causing sales to drop off at two Red Barn cafes.
''I don't want to slam them because business is business, and [Steve Shultz, the founder of Starbucks] started out as a little guy," said Mark Verrochi, president and cofounder of Red Barn. ''At the same time, I would never open next to another little guy. That's just my business ethics."
For months, Starbucks has been trying to locate in Waltham, but last month the City Council rejected its proposal to build in a strip mall. The councilors cited 24 safety concerns with the proposed location but insisted that there's no ill will toward the coffee chain.
''It's not a question of whether you're for or against Starbucks," said Councilor Robert Logan, who gets at least one medium coffee from a Dunkin' Donuts in Waltham each day. ''It's like Coke and Pepsi. Half the people like Starbucks and half like Dunkin' Donuts. And I think a lot of people would be happy to have a Starbucks here."
Logan said that while a Starbucks will ''definitely" locate in Waltham at some point, there's no effort to bring one to the city.
''Not to sound like I'm bragging, but Waltham is above such trivial concerns," he said. ''And if someone is looking to Starbucks as a barometer of gentrification, they must have some sort of an inferiority complex. Starbucks is not going to make or break us."
Matt Viser can be reached at viser@globe.com.
