Trees, Traffic, Troubling Small Businesses — Is Name Brand Coffee Worth It?
Crowding, traffic, scenery removal, and risking local business for the sake of a drive-thru — that’s what this new Starbucks location is moving in with. Ashland, Oregon is the town of small business, every corner houses some sort of mom-and-pop shop with friendly atmospheres and casual conversations — and we couldn’t be happier with that idea here.
Just a quick 15 minutes over the Oregon and California border off I5, Ashland houses the nationally-praised Oregon Shakespeare Festival and is home to many locally-owned shops. You wont see a Walmart, Target, or McDonald's in city limits, and until the near-future, you couldn’t find more than one stand-alone Starbucks either.
On the corner of Walker Avenue and Ashland Street, right next to Southern Oregon University, hard hats and bright yellow vests stand behind a chain-link fence remodeling the old Umpqua Bank to house the world’s newest Starbucks coffee shop. Many residents, however, are not happy with this development — as they foresee a large increase in traffic coming with it. Crews also cut down a large tree in the area which was said by the construction company to be obstructing the view of traffic. The Ashland Veterinary hospital next door to the future coffee location commented that “there certainly was value to it, in terms of the landscaping and our signage.”
The biggest concern for many though is how this new Starbucks will affect local business. Standing directly across the street is ReMix Coffee Bar, a cafe-bakery mix, second store to Mix Bakeshop in downtown Ashland. Mix opened just over a decade ago in a small corner shop and prides itself on having “the stylistic airs of a French café and a pinch of small town hospitality, Mix provides a melting pot of creative and high quality products in an environment catered to study or social engagement.” Offering pastries, coffee, and ice cream, Mix then opened its second location across the Southern Oregon University dorm halls in the summer of 2018.
Will this go-to for exhausted college students in the midst of finals weeks be replaced by a world-renowned brand? Us students, and many other Ashland locals sure hope not. Jennevieve Fong of KTVL asked ReMix what their thoughts were on the possibility of being over-shadowed by this new drive-thru coffee shop right across the street. Their response was actually hopefully, as they believe that it will bring attention to their shop with the traffic stopping by for a coffee off of I5.
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