Nerve Endings Firing Away

I guess a Starbucks outlet opening in close vicinity of my home deserves to make news on this blog considering my first post ever was about Starbucks. Starbucks was my daily haunt for two and half years when I lived in Atlanta. I missed the mom-n-pop ambiance of the neighborhood coffee shop that was Java Monkey although it was hardly ‘mom-n-pop’ in nature. It catered to an eclectic crowds of artists and musicians. The Starbucks near my second home was more corporate but its location next to a Regal multiplex gave it a friendly and personalized appearance. During the day, it served business folk and in the evenings especially during the weekends or summer, school kids hung out in the opposite plaza. Sometimes the kids made too much of a noise but were never too threatening. Probably the location in the upscale neighborhood of Dunwoody helped otherwise we would have seen guns being drawn [notice the lack of any racial stereotyping].

Now in the college town neighborhood of Northgate, Starbucks may be a wee bit out of place. Night clubs, bars, and eateries border the store but this district always lacked a good coffee shop. The campus coffee shop, [above Underground and adjacent to Sbisa] was okay but always presented a take-n-go environment as opposed to sit-a-while ambience. Plus, you always want to go away from the campus where you spend most of your waking hours.

Ash and I had always thought that the current location would be perfect for a Starbucks but was occupied with a staid bookstore for the past year. Perhaps someone else willing to get a Starbucks franchise had a similar thought and cashed in. Although college towns like the ones I live in prefer mom-n-pop coffee shops, Starbucks is the only coffee shop in walking distance of the campus. It opens at 5:30am and has a drive through which indicates that probably plenty of people will be picking up their dose of java to kickoff their mornings. Texas A&M not only has hordes of students but also plenty of professors and research personnel that would prefer the familar ambience of Starbucks. On the downside, strangely they do not seem to offer wireless; not even the expensively priced T-Mobile Hot Spot connections. The staff is a bit raw and amateurish (college kids after all) with couple of exceptions that I recognize from the older store up on University. Hopefully as time passes, things will improve.

We have already spent a couple of evenings here and its location next to the busy University Drive makes it apt for whiling away time. And it is only a five minute walk from home. But for serious studying and good coffee, I’ll always head back to Sweet Eugenes.