You remember my Montmartre sunset photo 2 days ago? Well the real reason why I was initially there, was to see for myself what is becoming a true scandal around Montmartre: Starbucks is going to open a coffee place at Place du Tertre! Yes, people, you heard it right, Star-bucks! Needless to say that an online petition has been created, that an association (Paris Fierté - Paris Pride?!) has already organized several anti Starbucks demonstrations, and that several articles have already been written to warn us from the American coffee invasion ;-) It is very unlikely that all this will prevent Starbucks to land on Place du Tertre though... Besides, technically it's not right on the Place du Tertre, but just around the corner, at the very opposite angle from where I took this photo).
Why can't France invade the USA with good coffee? Paris can invade me anytime.....
ReplyDeleteThis is the nicest pix I have ever seen of this square.
Merci PHX !
ReplyDeleteWhy can't we? Well I think we're not business minded enough...
I have never visited a Starbucks, but I know that I prefer smaller cafe's.
ReplyDeleteLove the orange color popping out at me!
ReplyDeletePHX, I agree that this is the best photo of the Place. During the spring and summer, it's jammed full of merchants. I've never seen it all like this.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with your coffee comment. However, many coffee shops serve express now. Not many do it well, though, so I order brewed coffee. I' still an American: I want a big mug of coffee. In Paris, however, I love the express.
If the market supports a Starbucks near Place du Tertre, it will survive. I just heard that after closing thousands of Starbucks stores across the U.S. in recent years, they are ready to once again open thousands more. I don't get it.
Pretty photo. Why would anyone want a Starbucks in Paris when you already have the best coffee and cafe's!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photo! ~ET Suzy
ReplyDeleteGorgeous photo! ~ET Suzy
ReplyDeleteBeautiful photo!
ReplyDeletePerhaps tourists will go to Starbucks to check their email. I don't expect Parisians will go there much... the coffee is inferior.
Ooh! Eye-popping color spots in a beautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
That's a great photo! And I went to Starbucks in Paris a few times, it seems like the dreaded American coffee has already invaded your city ;^)
ReplyDeleteI have a French friend who lives in the Rhone Valley, and whenever he's in the US he goes crazy for Starbucks. He says he can't get a good cup of coffee in France, and there's no establishment there that serves such a huge variety of coffee drinks like Starbucks does. Go figure.
There are already 39 Starbucks in Paris!
ReplyDeleteGreat photo love this aspect never seen a pucture of the square as empty as this.
ReplyDeleteThat'll be Starbucks the tax evading company then ;-)
ReplyDeleteNot to mention their recently discovered coffee scam - Buy a coffee "to go" and you'll get a smaller quantity of coffee in your cup than if you sit in!
Oops - "tax evading" should read "tax avoiding"!
ReplyDeleteFrom Angela Bell... Ugh. I enjoy the atmosphere in Starbucks' stores, admire the CEO and the business model, but do not like the coffee at all. Roasted to the point that it tastes almost burnt to me, although they now do have some lighter roasts. Oh, for an espresso anywhere in Paris right now!
ReplyDeletethanks monsieur for sharing this beautiful photo, perfect besides little asymetry and that street sign
ReplyDeleteI don't know much about starbucks being countryside, but I know there's a bunch of trouduculs in suits out there whose job is to protect and preserve our heritage and fail to do such
the mayor of mont st michel being one of them I wouldnt be surprised to see a starbuck's pop up soon
I'm loving that photo too—and not only because you can actually see the place du Tertre. As for a Starbucks near there: mon Dieu! Is nothing sacred? I just signed the petition (for what it's worth).
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I'm glad you liked this photo. The place du Tertre has been photographed a zillion times and I really did not know from which angle I should pull my trigger.
ReplyDeleteAnyway... About Starbucks. Well, Linda, I would not be so sure (" I don't expect Parisians will go there much... the coffee is inferior."). In fact that is what Mc Donald's people thought in the 70's when they thought of coming to France "It will never work there, people are too picky about their food in France". And now Mc Donald's is all over the place.
And like Dee said it there are already about 40 Starbucks in France and they are not all full with Tourists!
This is a gorgeous photo. I support the idea of anti-Starbucks, they make horrible coffee.
ReplyDeletebeautiful photo, Eric.
ReplyDeleteStarbucks is indeed taking over the world. In San Francisco, they recently bought a charming local chain of French bakery/Cafes called La Boulange. They promise not to change anything, but we will see.
Eric
ReplyDeletePeople need to vote with their feet and not go there, but tourists will, sadly. They are a bunch of tax dodgers who are under pressure in UK for the way they operate and pay little tax.
Starbucks coffee always tastes watered down I think. I think they just have too many to keep the quality up.
ReplyDeleteSuzanne
Interesting how strong the anti Starbucks feeling seems to be here! They went from the cool guys who managed to reintroduce coffee to the US to the wicked world company that everybody loves to hate!
ReplyDeleteIt has stirred a real debate as I can see !
ReplyDeleteSo here's my view on this (and it's only that, my little opinion, not a truth) :
- Starbucks in Paris would be for the average tourist not wanting to risk on a coffee they would not enjoy (then why travel?).
- Starbucks' coffees, for Norht America, has quite an european flavor, mind you. Surprisingly enough. And like MacDodald's, the quality of the product is always the same (variants seem to be meaningless really).
- Starbuck's coffee shops are not all big, some are small places, but they all have a certain intimacy in their ammenities. They also bear on a more modern feeling as for the whole experience : fairly quick counter service, the help-yourself sugar and milk counter, the music (a lot of soul music of the 60's and 70's), and the strong solid furniture.
That said, I do not know what kind of compromises they would make for such a Paris Location. But one thing for sure, while in Paris, I would not go for a Starbucks - that is for New York City, or home at times. In France, as in Italy, or Spain, or Austria, good god! Half of the reason I'm crossing the Atlantic is to get a good coffee !!!
Now like here, we heard a lot of complaints about American chains hitting the Canadian soil - people said "beurk", but those chain stores have remained because people don't hold up to their words and they do shopping in those places. So Starbucks has all the chances to become a cobble stone of the square in Montmartre!
I used to dislike Starbucks and I don't like their shops--always too cold. But the coffee they sell in grocery stores is much better than what they sell in their own shops. Go figure.
ReplyDeleteEric, I love this photo.
You might be interested to know that Starbucks had to close about 30 outlets in Australia because we Aussies just don't like chain coffee stores. Nobody was going there!
ReplyDeleteI was sad to see a Starbucks has opened up on my old street rue des Archives though.
qu'est ce qui se passe dans le monde???
Les premiers fautifs sont hélas les consommateurs français qui fréquentent ce genre d'établissement et encouragent ainsi son succès et les nombreuses ouvertures qui vont avec... Tout ça pour avoir l'impression de vivre dans une série américaine, le gobelet en carton (déchet en plus dans la nature) à la main.
ReplyDeleteMoi je boycotte toutes ces chaînes et préfère les bons vieux bistrots et brasseries parisiens.
Great photo, I took a goggle tour around the local streets including Strolling over to Le Calvaire. Where do the auto's go? Or do that many people take transit that parking is not a problem in this area. Very beautiful, it is really a model of how we should still be building cities.
ReplyDeleteI love your point of view for this shot, Eric. Super photo!
ReplyDeleteSo, a Seattle-based company is invading Montmartre! Hardly a scandal for such a touristic area. Was there such a protest when one opened in the Carousel du Louvre? Or the other Paris locations?
Starbucks is a major employer of people at their headquarters here in Seattle, and their shops saturate this city, providing more jobs. My husband always joked that they sell more milk than coffee, really. The two blokes who started SBs studied coffee roasting under Mr. Peet at his original Vine Street shop in Berkeley way back in the day. That was in my old neighborhood and is still there (Mr. Peet died and the shop is now owned by one of the SBs guys). Who could have envisioned back then a business model that would go global.
-Kim
I live in Seattle and I even shopped at the very first Starbucks ever before they became an international chain.
ReplyDeleteHere in Seattle Starbucks has gone so far as to create imitation Starbucks shops that look like they are local coffee shops and not Starbucks. They're trying to fool the locals into thinking it's not Starbucks!
lol!