Comments on: From Vancouver

By: spostrel

spostrel — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:33:49 +0000

There used to be two 7-11s on opposite corners near my high school.

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:32:16 +0000

This isn’t necessarily a strange phenom - especially in Vancouver. I like to call it the parasite effect. They saturate an area so much that not only do they eat into the smaller guys revenues but their own, essentially cannibalizing themselves and decreasing store by store sales. I am not certain if there are many examples of the stores being kitty cornered, but I know for a fact they make a habit of being on every other block as well as on the same block, just around the corner.

By: Donald A. Coffin

Donald A. Coffin — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:33:23 +0000

I believe, but could be wrong (I’m doing this by memory), that there are two Starbucks stores on DuPont Circle in Washington, DC. They are by separate entrances to/exits from the Metro system, which makes it convenient, I suppose, for caffeine addicts todealw ith their addiction. (Having just looked, there are Starbucks at 1003, 1301, 1501, and 1701 Connecticut Ave, NW, in DC.)

By: Peter Klein

Peter Klein — Tue, 06 May 2008 20:06:15 +0000

So we’re not quite here, but almost.

By: Dan Hirschman

Dan Hirschman — Tue, 06 May 2008 19:19:37 +0000

Comedian Lewis Black has chronicled this phenomenon, and named it “The End of the Universe”. Available in Youtube form here.

I can’t remember which routine this is from, but it’s at least a few years old.

By: Alison Kemper

Alison Kemper — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:48:51 +0000

In Toronto, there are two Second Cups on the corner of Spadina and Bloor.

(Second Cup is the domestic equivalent of Starbucks.)

It makes coffee dates confusing as hell, and it’s expensive real estate. One is a few feet closer to the UofT, and one is inside the doors of the Jewish Community Centre.

A block east of there, there are two independent espresso bars on the corner of St George and Bloor owned by the same family (also confusing). Within the block south of Bloor on St George are two Starbucks and two Second Cups. There is also another Starbucks that completes the southwest corner of the block at Spadina and Harbord.

I think that Starbucks and their high end competitors know that academics like to drink a lot of coffee and are pretty location specific (the library, the gym, the biz school, the JCC, etc.).

Is it not the same elsewhere? Or is this a Canadian phenomenon?