Coffee shop gloom as customers cut back on luxury lattes

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by LotusFlower | August 29, 2008 at 10:18 pm
604 views | 5 Recommendations | 1 comment

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Latte Withdrawl No Doubt.

Latte Withdrawl No Doubt.

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uploaded by Barry Artiste

As the recesion bites and lifestyles change it seems the days of the designer coffee shop, where it's never enough to just as for 'a cofee' but have to choose from a huge list of this or that kind of latte, tall, short, americano or whatever, are coming to an end. Starbucks posted losses for the first time in 15 years last month and now Coffee Republic post further losses. Maybe the coffee shop culture - well at least of the corporate kind - is on its way out leaving room again for the independently run local cafes, coffee shops and tea rooms that can give a place a real sense of identity in ways that these giant chains never can.

As Coffee Republic finance director James Muirhead, unveiled the chain's 12th consecutive year of losses despite a quadrupling of outlets, he said: "It would be naive not to expect a slowdown and belt tightening in the current economic climate."

The results come less than a month after US giant Starbucks reported its first quarterly loss in more than 15 years. The market leader lost $6.7m in the three months to the end of June, against a $158m profit a year earlier.

Coffee Republic's branch on London's trendy Kings Road was deserted during lunch time yesterday, and a store assistant admitted: "We are often very quiet, apart from the morning rush".

Source: telegraph.co.uk

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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (1)

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Barry Artiste
Barry Artiste
flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 05:55 on August 30th, 2008

LotusFlower, I like this story. It's good stuff. Don't be spreading those Nasty rumours in Kitsalano, BC, cause there would be riots in the streets, the Kits crowd would forgo gas in their cars, dare I say food and clothes for their kids, in their quest to attain their ever present Frappe Tofu Lattes, with a wisp of cinnamon, they hold their lattes with a death like grip and can be found wanding aimlessy around town, looking much like Micheal Jackson's Thriller Zombies. Except without the staggered dancing.  For Shame, Lotus, For Shame

This story was created over 3 months ago, the comment thread is now closed.

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Barry Artiste
First Flagged at 5:55 AM, Aug 30, 2008 by Barry Artiste
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