162 Starbucks within five miles of Borders Charing X!
http://www.starbucks.com/retail/locator/PrxResults.aspx?a=1&LOC=51.5146493429756%3a-0.12947326600996&CT=51.5146493429756%3a-0.129473266009966.76880352077202%3a5.07660264057902&countryID=242&FC=RETAIL&dataSource=MapPoint.EU&Radius=5&GAD2=&GAD3=+WC2H+0JR&GAD4=United+Kingdom&IC=51.5146493429756%3a-0.12947326600996%3a32%3a+WC2H+0JR
― Stevie T, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:09 (sixteen years ago) link
WAIT THERES A PLACE CALLED MASALA ZONE LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:09 (sixteen years ago) link
yah dunkies is a rash spreading down from boston
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:10 (sixteen years ago) link
GIMMME A BIG ONE AND A CRULLAH
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:11 (sixteen years ago) link
i have never heard of masala zone. is that really a thing?
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:11 (sixteen years ago) link
its a thing. you should try it. eating in zones is cool.
― ^@^, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:13 (sixteen years ago) link
A while ago I walked the whole length of Oxford St from Marble Arch to Tottenham Ct Rd. It was quite bizarre because you get about three iterations of all the chainstores: Starbucks, Borders, Boots, Next, whatever, and then fifteen minutes later they all come up again. And then again. Like you're in some weird space/time loop.
― Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:13 (sixteen years ago) link
sorry to bang on this relatively minor point but if you really think it's easier to find a starbucks in london than bleeding new york, you were actually in new jersey
-- ^@^, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 14:50 (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Link
No, we were definitely in NY, Empire State, WTC, Chrysler, Trump, Central Park Zoo, all that!
― Mark G, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:13 (sixteen years ago) link
-- Zelda Zonk, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 3:13 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link
cartoon background. this is true of most of the country though. bank, mobile phone shop, pub, pound shop, indian, bank...
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:15 (sixteen years ago) link
my oystercard doesn't cover masala zone ;_;
― ken c, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:15 (sixteen years ago) link
according to starbucks.com, there are at least 300 starbucks in manhattan alone (i think this is what the search results max out at) and 206 in all of london.
― ^@^, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:20 (sixteen years ago) link
206 + costa coffees + caffe neros = ?????
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:26 (sixteen years ago) link
plus coffee republic. And Pret, EAT, and all that.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:27 (sixteen years ago) link
theres two starbucks in the mall down the street
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:28 (sixteen years ago) link
you guys dont really get to add other coffee shops to starbucks all willy nilly like that
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:29 (sixteen years ago) link
There aren't many Starbucks outside of central London though.
There are maybe three Masala Zones in existence?
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:29 (sixteen years ago) link
There's two in central Reading!
― Mark G, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:30 (sixteen years ago) link
the number of prets is pretty amazing. ok, not 'amazing', but they came up like mushrooms, same time as starbucks mroe or less, and it wasn't that long ago.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:30 (sixteen years ago) link
There's a Costa in Woodley, of all things.
I think the number of pret's is reducing, there was one in Slough once anyway.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:31 (sixteen years ago) link
seriously question.
where should i go for ramen that's better/cheaper/faster/stronger than wagamama?
― ken c, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:31 (sixteen years ago) link
Ask Sheena Easton!
"If love is good, let's get to ramen"
― Mark G, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:32 (sixteen years ago) link
is tea drinking on the wane as coffee ascends? is this one of the things complained abt in the "daily mail" too?
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:33 (sixteen years ago) link
surely pret a manger is for food rather than coffee anyway.
― ken c, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:33 (sixteen years ago) link
it's called pret a manger
-- jhøshea, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 3:33 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link
lol. i think it's a myth propagated by sting that englishes don't drink coffee.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:36 (sixteen years ago) link
How things have changed...
http://www.kzwp.com/lyons/teashop.jpg
― Tom D., Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:36 (sixteen years ago) link
Pret stores are quite small though, remember, plus they're all located in heavy office/professional areas. It's not as if there's 50 of them lining, I dunno, Corby high street.
― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:37 (sixteen years ago) link
-- That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 10:36 AM (41 seconds ago) Bookmark Link
so do people drink both or do they fill different niches or what
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:38 (sixteen years ago) link
There'll be statistics on it somewhere but I think a lot of people do both?
― Tom D., Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:39 (sixteen years ago) link
Because Pret is private we don’t face the same pressure to grow that a public company does. We will develop slowly, one shop at a time. There are about 150 Pret shops at the moment. Most of them are in the UK. We turn over roughly 150 million pounds a year and would like to make 9% profit but haven’t yet. One day we will.
― onimo, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:41 (sixteen years ago) link
Pret's owned by McDonalds, isn't it?
― Dom Passantino, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link
in america everyone believe the english to be tea drinkers. also americans believe tea is for fags.
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:42 (sixteen years ago) link
but they definitely only want their toasts done on one side
mcdonald's own about a third of pret
― ken c, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:43 (sixteen years ago) link
The Irish are the crazy tea drinkers
― Tom D., Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:44 (sixteen years ago) link
americans do not believe the irish to be fags
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:45 (sixteen years ago) link
i do get to add costa and cafe nero willy nilly because this thread isn't about starbucks it's about chain stores in general - the u.s. has no 2nd- and 3rd-tier coffee chains that even come close to the saturation of these two, at least that i know of - i'm surprised there aren't actually MORE costa coffees (especially if you count the "licensed" costa shops that are independent but serve costa coffees and are then required to hang a giant costa sign outside, blurring the distinction)
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:49 (sixteen years ago) link
sorry - MORE costa coffees than starbucks is what i meant to say
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:50 (sixteen years ago) link
there are 600 in the uk
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:51 (sixteen years ago) link
u.s. has no 2nd- and 3rd-tier coffee chains that even come close to the saturation of these two
there are but they tend to be more regionaly clumped - dunkin donuts in new england, pete's in california, everything in the pacific nw etc.
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:53 (sixteen years ago) link
in boston there are waaay more dunkies than starbucks
the u.s. has no 2nd- and 3rd-tier coffee chains that even come close to the saturation of these two
well in the UK it doesn't take much to jump from "regional" to "national," right?
in the upper midwest we have caribou and dunn brothers coffee places, as well as shitloads of indie places (lol twin cities)... go somewhere else and it's what, au bon pain? there are lots of starbucks competitors but none have their reach, no
xp!
― gff, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:54 (sixteen years ago) link
Caffe Nero is actually pretty good though. Costa = meh. Starbucks = rubbish coffee. But yes, nowhere outside Zone One is anywhere near 'saturated' with them. I think Costa is only all over the place because it picked up most of the Coffee Republic places when they went bust.
There are still *a lot* of independent cafes and coffee shops in Central London, mostly catering to office workers.
― Matt DC, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:55 (sixteen years ago) link
yes DC that's very true abt central london
apparently there are two tea chains set to expand in the UK:
Betty's Café Tea Rooms
and
Tea
"Once we are in a position to start expanding," Spence says, "we hope to raise more finance to open 10 to 15 units in three years. We'll probably initially look at London locations such as Canary Wharf, the West End, Covent Garden, Notting Hill, St John's Wood and Richmond."
Looking further ahead, Spence says that he envisages one of three possibilities - an outright sale of all units, the setting up of a franchise business, or a brand rollout across the country financed by a launch on the Alternative Investment Market.
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link
dunkin donuts!
― ^@^, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link
ken, there's a place called sakura in central london that's supposed to have decent ramen. wagamama is horrible.
― lauren, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:57 (sixteen years ago) link
a wagamama was just opened in boston, by the way. i hope it bombs.
― lauren, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link
dunkin donuts is a donut shop
― Tracer Hand, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:58 (sixteen years ago) link
-- Matt DC, Tuesday, November 6, 2007 3:55 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Link
i was going to raise this earlier. working in w1, in the end, i tried different places, but cafe nero was basically better than the indies. sorry indies.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link
DD claims to be the "world's largest coffee and baked goods chain," serving 2.7 million customers per day at over 7,000 stores globally which includes approximately 5,300 Dunkin' Donuts locations in 34 states throughout the USA.[citation needed] This figure compares with the 10,800 stores of coffee chain Starbucks,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkin'_Donuts
― jhøshea, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link
tracer you're blowing my mind a little bit
― ^@^, Tuesday, 6 November 2007 15:59 (sixteen years ago) link