Corporate Brew vs. Local Brew Starbucks’ arrival to Traverse City stirs up competition with local businesses by: MALLORY SWOPE staff writer Since the initial announcement in 2016, Traverse City locals have anticipated the fresh, new aroma of Starbucks’ first stand-alone location in the area. In it’s entirety, the project took over three years with the demolition of the previous Arby’s building and the construction of the new 3,402 square-foot structure that is now home to Starbucks and a retail property awaiting tenants. Starbucks is just one of the many corporations to have filtered into Grand Traverse County in recent years, the more notable of the brew being Costco, Home Goods, Hobby Lobby, Uber, and, of course, Starbucks itself. Annually, Starbucks brings in tens of billions of dollars in revenue through its 29,000 locations worldwide. With the opening of the new location, Starbucks has expanded the potential for economic growth in Traverse City as well as the growth to come for the farming communities previously mentioned. The Starbucks Reports of their third fiscal quarter in 2019 disclosed that they were able to return 581 million dollars to their shareholders, and that’s just a fraction of what they made in their 13 week fiscal period. In order for local coffee shops to generate even one billion dollars in one year—four times as long as it takes Starbucks to make an amount exponentially larger—every single person in Grand Traverse County would have to spend tens of thousands of dollars exclusively on coffee. Despite the fact that Starbucks has stepped up as a major contributor to Traverse City’s economy, Madeline Michutka ‘22 pointed out that there isn’t as much culture or identity to be found in a company with such an expansive economic and political frontage. Franchised companies bring something else to the table that is incredibly important to any city and its economy: jobs. Brynna Wesley ‘20 works for Starbucks and absolutely loves it. “They have this program where I can transfer out to California when I go to college really easily,” she said. Being born and raised in Stanford, California shaped how Wesley views Traverse City. She recognizes that it is a small town and the support 22 // BGQ // October 2019
offered to local businesses is a priority, but she feels as though this support only lasts as far as Front Street spans. “A lot of people get overheated about things they don’t even support in their day-to-day lives,” she noted. In Wesley’s eyes, this is especially true when it comes to the struggle between Cuppa Joe and Starbucks; she sees the issue as having much deeper roots and something is only being said now because “... there’s some tangible evidence to be mad about.” The introduction of Starbucks, an incredibly powerful corporate coffee chain, to the area threatened to send local businesses—specifically other coffee shops and bakeries—frothing. Since Starbucks’ day one, there has been a consistent line wrapping around Starbucks’ drive-thru into the parking lot while Cuppa Joe’s drive-thru directly across the street... not so much. Michutka observed this trend and acknowledged that “...some local businesses might not flourish as well as they were [before Starbucks came].” Within the mere weeks that it has been open, Starbucks has made itself very well-known to Traverse City and especially to students at CHS; the sight of students returning from lunch carrying cups with the image of the nautical creature that the company derived its name from has become common. The convenience of the location is not the only thing persuading students to purchase goods from the corporate chain. Teens’ use of social media is taken advantage of by franchised companies with a vast social media page in order to attract a larger crowd of customers; the advertisements of the newest drink coming out or the unbeatable promotion of the day appeals to consumers and lures them into the store. However, this is something that is difficult for local companies to achieve. Having such an extensive social media page is costly in both time and money which are both limited resources for local businesses. Sandi Daley opened the drive-thru location of Cuppa Joe in the Spring of 1999 with “...the love of coffee, community, and hospitality” in heart. It emphasizes a small-town coffee shop vibe, making the customer ex-
