One thing you should know, I think Starbucks is brilliant.  Well, more I think the people behind the brand are brilliant.  Not only have they made coffee into a luxury and necessary item, but they have trained us to ask for it by funny names like caramel macchiato, or crave a skinny vanilla latte, or even worse, use a benign size system.  Tall?  What does that mean?  I worked in a cafe for over 5 years and nothing was more annoying then someone asking for a grande macchiato when really they meant a medium (I think) latte.

But I digress.  The real purpose of this post is to bring up this company’s struggle to get one of their shops in every darn neighborhood possible.  Manhattan is already riddled with these stores and at one point, standing on the corner of Astor Place and St. Mark’s Place you could see three Starbucks at once.  That is ridiculous.  Since they have snatched up the real estate on the island, it’s not surprising they are making their way into Brooklyn.  For years, we have heard rumors of Starbucks opening up in Fort Greene, which, luckily has not happened and instead, we have gotten an influx of new, cute coffee shops like Bittersweet, Smooch, and Tillie’s (my past employer).  But it’s not just Fort Greene, there have also been whispers of Starbucks opening in Williamsburg.  And this time, it might be true.  Gothamist came out with a well-rounded article about the matter and the crappy deal being handed the current residences of Starbucks’ potential home.

The Bagel Store, which has been around for almost a decade, recently got told their rent was doubling.  Come on, in this economy you are doubling the rent of a shop that serves bagels?  What do you want them to do, start peddling crack to make up the difference?  But it’s more then just Starbucks moving in (which I don’t think the Williamsburg hipsters would let it happen, and, if it did, they would surly boycott in favor of the Verb, Ella Cafe, or any of the other superior coffee joints around), the worst part of the story, is how a landlord can really change the hood, just by being a greedy f**ker.  That’s right, I called him a f**ker. Even if the taxes were raised, it wouldn’t constitute a rent two times the current one. My only hope is that they come to an agreement or else The Bagel Shop loses their sleek shop and the store will either remain empty till someone can pay the high fee, or something like a Starbucks fills the space.  The way things are now seem perfectly fine to me.