[BRIEF NOTE] Coffees and Consumerisms
May. 11th, 2004 12:09 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldSaturday, I went to Starbucks. I was inspired to go by this post on the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
queens livejournal community, which promised a protest at 11 o'clock. Alas, by the time I'd gotten there at 11:05, the protest had either dispersed or failed to materialize at all. (I did notice some colourful chalk scrawls on the sidewalk, one proclaiming that "Starbucks hurts communities!" and the other calling on Starbucks to follow a nearby deli into backruptcy.) I went inside and bought a tall fair blend mix coffee for two dollars. I rather liked the coffee, price included, although any other coffee that involved a degree of preparation would have been vastly more expensive.
Sunday, I went to Tim Horton's. It was in the evening, and I was feeling a bit restless. I walked up from the Graduate Residence towards Princess Street, zigging and zagging past the local Catholic cathedral and some nice rows of brick buildings, the sort that PEI lacks owing to its lack of construction materials apart from wood. I went inside and bought a large ice cappuccino along with a Canadian Maple donut, for just under four dollars. I finished the donut by the time I'd gotten to the next street south; the coffee I nursed for another half-hour, as is my wont.
Today, I went to the Sleepless Goat on lower Princess Street. I took a roundabout route, though.
I decided to walk on the waterfront, mainly because I haven't really done that since I got to Kingston. I went south towards Ontario Street, and walked into the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes. They had some interesting exhibitions about maritime construction on the Great Lakes, about shipwrecks, and about the ecological damage wrought by the zebra mussel. I continued walking along the waterfront, noting how it really hasn't been upgraded to approximate Chatrlottetown's despite the wonderful view of the breakwater and the RMC, until I decided to go up to White Mountain Homemade Ice Cream for a strawberry frozen yogurt. Afterwards, I went over to the S&R Department Store on Princess Street to buy a lamp for my dark room for 15 dollars, along with a lightbulb.
On finally arriving at the Goat, I bought a cup of coffee, Sumatran blend.
This post was prompted by the above-mentioned proposed protest over Starbucks' expanded presence in Kingston. (There's already a Starbucks in the Indigo on Princess Street just a half-dozen blocks up, but that doesn't count, apparently.) Certainly, Starbucks has done bad things as a business, like running its new operatinos at a loss to drive other coffee shops out of business. Then again, it has done a lot of good things, simply by raising the bar for what people expect out of coffee houses. Too, without Starbucks would anyone even care about fair-trade coffee?
In my case, Starbucks' presence doesn't divert my interest in buying coffee, but rather stimulates new interest in more coffee. Not much interest, though; their tall coffee was reasonably priced, but everything else was unreasonable. Besides, I like the Goat's food and the atmosphere of the place.
queens livejournal community, which promised a protest at 11 o'clock. Alas, by the time I'd gotten there at 11:05, the protest had either dispersed or failed to materialize at all. (I did notice some colourful chalk scrawls on the sidewalk, one proclaiming that "Starbucks hurts communities!" and the other calling on Starbucks to follow a nearby deli into backruptcy.) I went inside and bought a tall fair blend mix coffee for two dollars. I rather liked the coffee, price included, although any other coffee that involved a degree of preparation would have been vastly more expensive.Sunday, I went to Tim Horton's. It was in the evening, and I was feeling a bit restless. I walked up from the Graduate Residence towards Princess Street, zigging and zagging past the local Catholic cathedral and some nice rows of brick buildings, the sort that PEI lacks owing to its lack of construction materials apart from wood. I went inside and bought a large ice cappuccino along with a Canadian Maple donut, for just under four dollars. I finished the donut by the time I'd gotten to the next street south; the coffee I nursed for another half-hour, as is my wont.
Today, I went to the Sleepless Goat on lower Princess Street. I took a roundabout route, though.
I decided to walk on the waterfront, mainly because I haven't really done that since I got to Kingston. I went south towards Ontario Street, and walked into the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes. They had some interesting exhibitions about maritime construction on the Great Lakes, about shipwrecks, and about the ecological damage wrought by the zebra mussel. I continued walking along the waterfront, noting how it really hasn't been upgraded to approximate Chatrlottetown's despite the wonderful view of the breakwater and the RMC, until I decided to go up to White Mountain Homemade Ice Cream for a strawberry frozen yogurt. Afterwards, I went over to the S&R Department Store on Princess Street to buy a lamp for my dark room for 15 dollars, along with a lightbulb.
On finally arriving at the Goat, I bought a cup of coffee, Sumatran blend.
This post was prompted by the above-mentioned proposed protest over Starbucks' expanded presence in Kingston. (There's already a Starbucks in the Indigo on Princess Street just a half-dozen blocks up, but that doesn't count, apparently.) Certainly, Starbucks has done bad things as a business, like running its new operatinos at a loss to drive other coffee shops out of business. Then again, it has done a lot of good things, simply by raising the bar for what people expect out of coffee houses. Too, without Starbucks would anyone even care about fair-trade coffee?
In my case, Starbucks' presence doesn't divert my interest in buying coffee, but rather stimulates new interest in more coffee. Not much interest, though; their tall coffee was reasonably priced, but everything else was unreasonable. Besides, I like the Goat's food and the atmosphere of the place.
