Farleys Coffee on 18th Street


Reading Why the Starbucks “15th Ave” Store Is Doomed to Fail on HBR in which Peter Merholz talks about the dishonestly behind a new concept coffee shop called 15th Ave, that tried to capture the lost magic of Starbucks.

My favorite San Francisco coffeehouse, Farley’s, which is amateurish (and I mean that by its Latin root: done for the love) and personal. Faking it is not a good strategy in bed or in retail. Perhaps my biggest beef with 15th Ave is that it’s fundamentally dishonest. Everyone knows it’s run by Starbucks, but the website and the store do all they can to suggest it’s a true independent (though the high level of interior design suggests a bankroll out of the reach of most entrepreneurs).

Photo credit – Flickr

One Reply to “Farleys Coffee on 18th Street”

  1. The success or failure of this experiment could be evaluated based on what are Starbuck’s intentions:

    If Starbucks’ goal is to be loved by the local community that cares about their neighborhood, this retail concept will fail miserably.

    On the other hand, if their goal is simply to make money by providing a pleasant not-so-chain-like experience to coffee lovers who don’t care about the local social fabric and just want a warm cup of coffee (from their point of view), this could definitely be a success.

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