My family ran a local sandwich shop for years. Here’s the problem.
If this is downtown, the local sandwich shop isn’t even there, in part because Starbucks helped price them out of being able to rent. Every supermarket now has a sandwich counter too, so local sandwich shops don’t do well in shopping centers either. Fast food has slightly improved their quality over the years so that’s more competitors at the low end. And Subway, period.
You’re paying for the convenience at Starbucks and in some cases convenience is valuable. If you don’t care about time and can go out of your way to a local sandwich shop, you get better food for less.
I was in an area like that once. It felt weird. Like I stepped into some alternative earth history where the franchises and chains all had different names. It was basically the same items for sale however.
Idk…local independent shops aren’t necessarily cheaper. There is a local coffee shop somewhat by me and it’s more expensive than Starbucks. Independent places don’t have the advantage of mass scale like the big name fast food and chain places do. When I go independent, I often find myself paying more money for less convenience. So it’s not even just convenience that you’re sacrificing
Yeah that can be true. Not all local businesses are competitively run.
While it’s true they don’t have the same economies of scale as large corporations, they also don’t have the same overhead. Starbucks coffee stands support a skyscraper full of bureaucrats somewhere. And Starbucks corporate has a stock price to worry about. Local shops don’t have all that crap, and can often get away with charging less. My dad just charged 15% below the corporate shop down the block, as a rule, and it was still profitable.
My family ran a local sandwich shop for years. Here’s the problem.
If this is downtown, the local sandwich shop isn’t even there, in part because Starbucks helped price them out of being able to rent. Every supermarket now has a sandwich counter too, so local sandwich shops don’t do well in shopping centers either. Fast food has slightly improved their quality over the years so that’s more competitors at the low end. And Subway, period.
You’re paying for the convenience at Starbucks and in some cases convenience is valuable. If you don’t care about time and can go out of your way to a local sandwich shop, you get better food for less.
Luckily the downtown in the city where I live doesn’t allow chain restaurants so I have many options for decently priced food.
That’s a great law if you can get it. Big parts of the NorCal coastline are like that and going there feels like traveling back to a better time.
I was in an area like that once. It felt weird. Like I stepped into some alternative earth history where the franchises and chains all had different names. It was basically the same items for sale however.
Idk…local independent shops aren’t necessarily cheaper. There is a local coffee shop somewhat by me and it’s more expensive than Starbucks. Independent places don’t have the advantage of mass scale like the big name fast food and chain places do. When I go independent, I often find myself paying more money for less convenience. So it’s not even just convenience that you’re sacrificing
Yeah that can be true. Not all local businesses are competitively run.
While it’s true they don’t have the same economies of scale as large corporations, they also don’t have the same overhead. Starbucks coffee stands support a skyscraper full of bureaucrats somewhere. And Starbucks corporate has a stock price to worry about. Local shops don’t have all that crap, and can often get away with charging less. My dad just charged 15% below the corporate shop down the block, as a rule, and it was still profitable.
Also how else is the roof of your mouth going to get tougher without starbucks sandwiches?
There’s a “your mom” joke in there somewhere but it’s not coming to me.