Stanford’s Boulevard Of Broken Beans
Posted by TheShot on 26 Jul 2006 | Tagged as: Consumer Trends, Local Brew, Roasting
Teri Hope, owner of the Los Gatos Coffee Roasting Company, was interviewed for today’s issue of the Metro about how her successful Palo Alto Roasting Company was shut down this year: News & Culture in Palo Alto, CA | Stanford Shopping Center.
They may not have been the greatest local roaster in the Peninsula, but I’ve frequently sent many a new home espresso enthusiast to the Palo Alto Roasting Company for bean stocks. The institution was a local success story as a tenant in the Stanford Shopping Center. However, a recent change in mall ownership to Indiana-based Simon Property Group (an organization I’ve long despised for a variety of reasons, btw) meant that if you weren’t a megachain with deep marketing pockets out to homogenize America, you had to pack your bags.
It’s one thing to accuse the Starbucks of this world of contributing to the bland sameness of every downtown in America. Having a landlord who insists upon that policy just adds insult to injury.
1 Comment »
on 25 Sep 2006 at 12:40 pm -05:00T 1.TheShot.coffeeratings.com » Starbucks Accused of Abusing Monopoly Power in Violation of Sherman Act said …
[...] This is, of course, what brought the Palo Alto Roasting Company to an end — among many other competitive chains and cafés. While there definitely seems to be a strong element of truth behind this accusation, how the courts interpret this may be different story. [...]