“I’m not basic,” whispered I, a white girl, as I trudged through the snow to take iPhone photos of a Starbucks.
This banner was almost falling off when we got there, but we fixed it. You’re welcome, Middletown.
As you might have heard from the Argus or the Middletown Press or both, a Starbucks is opening on Washington Street next month. Specifically, it’s opening in the hilariously-named Price Chopper Plaza (edit by kitab 2/2/17: the Plaza is actually the Home Depot/Price Chopper Plaza, inexplicably sometimes just called the Home Depot Plaza, so they definitely make the name up at random), meaning it’s opening in a rectangular block located in the Price Chopper/Home Depot parking lot. Whether you think of the coffee empire as Pumpkin Spice Heaven or “Um, May I Speak To Your Manager?” Hell, this is decidedly a game-changer. No longer will the Dunkin Donuts on Wash be the sole purveyor of mediocre chain coffee in this town. Choose your side.
I decided to check out the new location, because I had no class today and it’s only Week 1 and I had internship apps piling up nothing better to do. (Shoutout to Kat Kaplan ’18 for giving me a ride over). This led to the eerie experience of driving through an empty, snow-covered Starbucks drive-thru and parking next to a sad, sinking banner announcing the location’s opening. See photos after the jump:
I did not know this, but apparently Starbucks has been expanding their drive-thru locations since 2013. Even if they weren’t, it would make sense to put one here; this stretch of Wash is crawling with fast food drive-thru competitors, and it’ll make it easier for Wesleyan students to drive down the hill and buy a Caramel Macchiato.
Still, I’m skeptical that the new Starbucks will be a viable competitor to Pi Café or Espwesso or even the Usdan grab-n-go. It’s not like you’ll be able to roll out of bed and grab a tall latte five minutes before class, even if you do own a car. Plus, without the cult-y New Englander following that Dunkin has, Starbucks doesn’t seem quite as popular on campus. (The only Wes student I’ve known to trek to the Rocky Hill location is dionysus – make of that what you will).
Anyways, here are more photos of frosty capitalism. Enjoy.
