July 28th, 2009 | Author: admin
According to an article that appeared in the The New Times, distributed by All Africa Media, Starbucks is to start selling Rwandan textiles and baskets in its stores this summer.
It appears that a deal was signed recently with L’Usine Textile du Rwanda (Utexrwa) by Howard Schultz during his visit to Rwanda in June this year (looks like the Gulfstream is getting some use!). According to the report, a Starbucks office was also opened, the first on the continent.
Link to article: http://allafrica.com/stories/200907280025.html
TEXTILES!!!!! What ever next – kitchen and bathroom accessories!!!!!
So much for going back to the basics of being a “coffee house”. Given that the AllAfrica coffee blend offered by Starbucks is probably one of the nastiest tasting coffees on the market, and given that coffee sales continue to decline, do they go back to core principles – NO! The Seattle dream factory finds other ways to diversify and clutter the stores with anything but great coffee!
You can imagine the scene:
Customer:” Can I get a grande Kenya coffee please”
Barista: “No sorry, its mid afternoon so all we are instructed to offer is Pike’s Place Roast”
Customer: “Yuk! I want a good bold coffee”
Barista: “Sorry, you should have come in this morning, if you don’t like the PPR then I can offer you a trendy Rwandan textile tote bag, or a nice basket.”
Customer: “But I want a good bold coffee – this is a coffee house isn’t it!!!”
Barista: “Well yes and no – we sell coffee but only what we want to give you, but forget that, how about a few yards of the handmade Rwandan fabric, would make a fabulous dress – can you sew?”
Customer: “AHHHHHHHHHH – better give me a strong beer”
Barista: “Sorry, that’s only available at our unbranded stores, you know, the ones that people aren’t supposed to think are big corporate stores but local little businesses – sneaky ehhh! You might even get a decent coffee there, but as you’re here in a branded Starbucks, what do you think about a nice set of handmade baskets? OOOOH you should see your face – the color matches the packaging of the AllAfrica coffee. I’ld offer to sell you blood-pressure pills but we don’t start selling those until next business quarter – gulp! Please remove your hands from my throat – please!!!!!!!!”
OH the joy to come!
If the report is correct and we believe it is, then this is further evidence of big corporate mentality with a “lets make money anyway we can, screw the fact that we are supposed to be a coffee house, profits are king because we are in business for the stockholders and Starbucks is now a brand name so why not try to leverage that and attach the logo to any old crap we can. If the stores can’t hack it we’ll close more and save even more money giving us better (short term-Ed) profits”. (HS personal note to self: make sure to cash in my stock before the implosion so my retirement fund is secure – tell partners this is good for the company and them so they should buy more shares as the price will rise – suckers!)