01 August 2008

My cup runneth dry

Well it seems that our days of indulging in the "seen sipping" culture has come to an end.

It was announced earlier in the week that a rather well know chain of coffee shops were closing the doors on about 75% of their stores. There is (was) one outlet of these coffee shops at our local shopping centre and M34tb4LL, Peanut and I could often be seen there on a Friday night, a Saturday or Sunday afternoon - and some weeks it would be all three!!!

Most of my regular readers would know that I don't use the real names of businesses a lot of the time - why should i advertise for them when they are quite capable of doing that on their own. I do how ever like to give then aliases that (I think) kind of gives away who I am talking about. And if i was to do that this time I could call the chain of coffee shops "Idolcash", but that is just too funny for a serious post (and this is very serious!).

Starbucks was not just a place to get a drink from, it was much more than that to us. We had been going there for many years and we knew all the staff. We knew their names, we heard stories about their home life, we were even invited to one of the girls son's first birthday party!

And they all knew us, they knew our favourite drinks - and if we said "I feel like something different today", they knew what to suggest. They has seen Peanut from "Hey guys, guess what! I'm pregnant" right through to his first babycino, and second and many many more.

We really did have a proper relationship with them - they had even met our parents!

For us, it was the "well where else would we be?" place. If we planned to met anyone at our local shops it was the place that we would suggest to meet. In fact, most of the time if we planned to meet anyone they did not have to ask where to meet - it was assumed.

And it was the place that we went when we wanted to see a friendly, familiar face. The day that we went to see the evil obstetrician M34tb4LL took me to Starbucks to calm down a bit, and get some reassurance that everything was alright from friends before going to work. The day Peanut and I came home from the hospital, M34tb4LL and I bundled him into the pram and walked to Starbucks - not to the shops - we did not go window shopping or just for a walk - we went to Starbucks! The day that our poor puppy - Sheppie - passed away I went to Starbucks to have a cup of tea and just watch people walk by.

We like to people watch, it was a hobby I guess you could say, and the position that Starbucks was in our local had was ideal for indulging in this hobby.

But sadly, they have all been turned out of a job, and we have been turned away from our one of our favourite places to just go and hang out. When I found out yesterday that OUR Starbucks was one of the ones that was closing, I must admit, I did shed a tear. And this morning I went to the local to see if there was anyone there. Lucky for me there was. Though the store had it last day of trade yesterday most of the staff were there to a bit of cleaning up and I got to have a chat and let them all know that they have all been more to us than just people who served us drinks.

So I just want to finish with saying a huge thanks to all the staff of Starbucks Knox City (Victoria, Australia). We will miss you all, and we wish you all the best for the future. You all deserve the best - because the best is what you always gave to us.

): G

1 comment:

TallulahBelle said...

They closed your Starbucks??!! But that was the Starbucks we always go to. Where will we get coffee now?

*is perturbed*