Don’t Look Now

Remember that Starbucks that nobody wanted out in the Richmond? Well, after residents fought the coffee chain tooth, nail and exhaustive public comment session, the behemoth retreated, but as the Examiner reported today, they only hovered on the outskirts long enough to re-enter the neighborhood tucked inside the local Safeway, a chain apparently worth having. From the Ex:

Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, who represents the Richmond district, said he started receiving complaints in mid-December from residents angry about a Starbucks kiosk that was built into a new Safeway store at Cabrillo Street and Eighth Avenue. His office forwarded the complaints to city planners.

Apparently the kiosk remains up, but unattended. It does not sell hot coffee, but does stock beans that customers can buy at the register.

City Planner Mary Woods told The Examiner that Starbucks did not file an application to open a kiosk in Safeway. She said the Planning Department would decide within a month whether the kiosk should be treated as a separate business, in which case it should have filed such a permit application.

Now that should be an exciting hearing!

Starbucks kiosk brews ire in Richmond district [Examiner]

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Don’t Look Now