Starbucks in Ojai....wait, ANOTHER Starbucks in Ojai?
that's right, folks. the Ojai Valley News reports that the Planning Commission is generally agreeable to a plan for a limited remodel of the Vons in the Ojai Shopping Center, which includes umbrella-ed outdoor seating, a floral and produce display, and a Starbucks kiosk inside the store.
this would not only make TEN coffee merchants in our valley (including the existing Starbucks in Mira Monte and not including every restaurant in town), but our SECOND Starbucks. with a conflict currently active regarding a proposed initiative to limit national chains within the city, this is perhaps not a good move for the Planning Commission to make. that, and i'm now forced to wonder whether our city's values include putting products in our bodies that contain Recombinant Bovine Growth Hormones.
the Starbucks in Mira Monte is reportedly already doing damage to the business of Stir Crazy, which is a completely local company within two blocks distance. MAYBE it's owned and operated by a local person, like Jersey Mike's is...i don't know. what i'm sure of is that our small valleys NINTH and TENTH coffee shops need not be homogenous, corporate vendors with questionable-at-best business practices. our valley's values are not represented there.
now, i'm not necessarily anti-corporate, lest you write me off immediately as "one of those" who abhors anything big for the sake of its bigness. but i am UNcomfortable with non-sustainable agriculture and the use of dairy products from hormone-treated cows.
want more?
http://www.organicconsumers.org/rbghlink.html
http://www.themeatrix.com/
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/dairy/the-starbucks-campaign
http://www.organicconsumers.org/starbucks/index.cfm
i have note cards that you can leave at or send to our local Starbucks, asking them to stop using rbgh. we can also start writing and visiting the City Council and the Planning Commission. the latter meets every other wednesday, as far as i can tell. i'm sure there are posters here who can clarify that. the paper says their next meeting is cancelled unless there's something important.
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Comments (10)
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Comment #1 Posted by: Tyler | October 7, 2006 11:16 AM
Don't get me started, oops... you already did. There has been a boycott on Starbucks for months. I frequent the Coffee Connection in Meiners Oaks, good people, good product, fairtrade and organic. Support local business.
Comment #2 Posted by: Raymond | October 7, 2006 03:23 PM
An interesting article to read by Wendell Berry entitled "Compromise Hell! Economic WMD's are being used against our own people in a version of "freedom" that makes greed the dominant economic virtue."
http://www.oriononline.org/pages/om/04-6om/Berry.html
Comment #3 Posted by: J C | October 8, 2006 10:48 AM
The Vons already has a coffee retail outlet inside the store, so this would replace, not be in addition to, right? That store/strip mall is in serious need of a facelift. And this Vons is already selling hormone treated milk. I do not shop there because it's dark, narrow, smelly, the produce is terrible and the parking lot is horrendous shall I go on). But if what they want to do will make it more pleasant to look at and more attractive to folks coming to Ojai for the first time, good luck to them.
Comment #4 Posted by: Lisa Snider | October 8, 2006 02:41 PM
To me, this seems like another case of the City Council and Planning Commission not listening to the people of the City. As they have continued to do for many years. Unfortunately I believe its time for a regime change within the City Council.
Comment #5 Posted by: Tom McNerney | October 8, 2006 04:28 PM
The Von's coffee counter has been selling Seattle's Best coffee for years, and the Seattle's Best brand is owned by Starbucks. Essentially, there is already a Starbucks concession at Von's, and it has been there for quite awhile.
Whether or not it has operated under the Starbucks name or sold the rest of the Starbucks line of food and merchandise, it has been making money for the parent corporation all the same.
Comment #6 Posted by: Mark Bowen | October 8, 2006 05:34 PM
This is the reason why I'm in support of an initiative that preserves and protects Ojai's downtown core from national chains and franchises. I know we already have some chains and franchises (more than I'd care to have), but I'm interested in drawing the line and keeping out the rest of them.
I'm in favor of defining an area for our downtown core where we say no to chains and franchises. Can we create an historical district? An arts and culture zone? Other cities have done it. Ojai can do it.
With Starbucks in Miramonte and a kiosk in Vons..it's just a matter of time before Starbucks opens in the arcade. They could grab the O-Hi Frostie location or the empty Cherubs spot. They'll be followed by Jamba Juice, Pottery Barn, etc. etc. It's just a matter of time unless we do something about it.
All the more reason to get behind Jeff Furchtinect and his initiatives. See stories on the Ojai Post home page.
Comment #7 Posted by: Leslie Davis | October 8, 2006 08:40 PM
here's another solution-based resource:
http://www.themeatrix.com/getinvolved/statepdfs/CA.pdf
find and use dairy products (if you must) that dont have any rbgh in them!
Comment #8 Posted by: evan | October 11, 2006 08:16 AM
Witness downtown Sbarbara downtown and you'll find
Starbuck's on every corner-
at least four stores. I reiterated this with
Ojai Planning Commission and they seemed to concurr,
or that was the sentiment of Commissioner Paul Blatz
Comment #9 Posted by: pete lafollette | October 12, 2006 03:27 PM
What is starbuck's gonna do for us? We should support the local coffee shops that locals own and opperate. If there are no opportunities because we let the big boys take them all, then who will want to live/move here?
Comment #10 Posted by: Ryan Elliott | October 16, 2006 04:11 PM