Landing Starbucks to Close

[fsujax]

Stephen, can you call Starbucks corporate and get an official response as to why they are closing? this could be interesting.

[KuroiKetsunoHana]

starbucks is really pointless.  while anything downtown closing is a bad thing, starbucks is among what we can most afford to lose.

[thelakelander]

hell, at this point they (hot dog carts) will be relocating to Deerwood along gate parkway!

There is a hot dog cart at the Home Depot just up the street from Deerwood

I've actually stopped there a couple of times over the last two years or so.

[river4340]

 http://jacksonville.com/entertainment/food-and-dining/2011-03-18/story/starbucks-close-jacksonville-landing

[RiversideLoki]

Chamblin's makes better coffee IMO.. and I can get real food there.

[tufsu1]

yes Stephen...if we just gave Sleiman his dedicated parking, everything would be fine at the Landing....just like it is at all his suburban shopping centers....case in point, the one on Southside just north of the Avenues!

[JeffreyS]

You have to admit it happened right on the heels of the city dropping the ball on the parking issue and passing it to the next Admin. Just sayin.

[Shwaz]

I think Orange Tree was open less than 30 days.

[Bativac]

The times union article went into more detail from the landing's POV.

Starbucks is closing its store in The Jacksonville Landing. Janice Lowe, general manager of the Landing, said Starbucks has informed her that it will leave when its lease runs out at the end of April.

She said she wasn't sure exactly how long it had been there, but thought that it was at least 10 years.

"They had business," she said, "but Starbucks has a lot of expenses. I imagine they'd just tell you that they're not doing the numbers they need to for a corporate store."

Starbucks headquarters has not yet responded to the Times-Union.

Starbucks had previously closed its other downtown Jacksonville location on Forsyth Street. It was one of six area closings announced in 2008, along with about 600 others nationwide.

Lowe said the closing will hit the Landing particularly hard, but that she understood the pressure on the merchants.

"We still don't have parking, and we've had more than 400 days of construction in front of the Landing," Lowe said. "I've been at the Landing for a long time, but I've never seen anything like this.

"I'm going to tell you, the construction on Laura Street has been devastating, and it's not done yet," she said.

Sbarro closed in the Landing about a month ago, she said.

"It's the least occupied the food court has ever been in the whole term of the Landing,"

Wouldn't it be funny if the city finished beautifying the Laura St intersection, only to be showcasing an empty Jacksonville Landing?

Well, not "funny" funny, but "that's Jacksonville fer yuh" funny.

I love independent places, too, but even the decent independent places in downtown Jax don't have very accommodating store hours (unless you're one of the many dozen who actually work downtown), and they can be a little...low-rent on the inside. I'm not a fan of Starbucks but the name carries a certain cachet that "Jax City Cafe" doesn't. Losing a Starbucks just doesn't help the overall "feel" of downtown, at all.

Not to mention Sbarro closing. Ouch.

[Jimmy]

There's really no way to put a positive spin on losing a couple (more) national chain restaurants downtown.  Not positive at all.

[Shwaz]

Maybe it's because of the heinous new road 'improvements' - Every time I circle the roundabout I feel like my car's suspension is going to implode.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

white chocolate iced mocha latte lowfat sugarfree

Oh, for a minute I forgot we were even talking about coffee.  

How about 4 shots on ice with a splash of cream.  It's my own personal 5-Hour Energy blend and it only runs $2.95.  But alas, I get stuck waiting in line behind 6 other people ordering the things you mentioned above, so it only really boils down to a 4.5 hour energy.

I guess it goes back to my bartending days when people have the audacity to order shit like a mudslide or a daquari (sans island ice machine - we're talking blended drink) or any other time consuming drink when the bar is already 6 people deep.  At some point, customer service goes completely out the window, you rip the blender off of the counter, throw it on the floor and announce to the bar that the blender is broken, the fru-fru mixers are all gone and all we're serving are drafts, bottles or any liquor drink on ice that doesn't rhyme with ackery, icane or unner.  Sir, how many rum and cokes would you like?  

This actual event may have happened at the Landing when Jock's and Jill's was still there and during FL/GA weekend in '02
.

[Shwaz]

white chocolate iced mocha latte lowfat sugarfree

Oh, for a minute I forgot we were even talking about coffee.  

How about 4 shots on ice with a splash of cream.  It's my own personal 5-Hour Energy blend and it only runs $2.95.  But alas, I get stuck waiting in line behind 6 other people ordering the things you mentioned above, so it only really boils down to a 4.5 hour energy.

I guess it goes back to my bartending days when people have the audacity to order shit like a mudslide or a daquari (sans island ice machine - we're talking blended drink) or any other time consuming drink when the bar is already 6 people deep.  At some point, customer service goes completely out the window, you rip the blender off of the counter, throw it on the floor and announce to the bar that the blender is broken, the fru-fru mixers are all gone and all we're serving are drafts, bottles or any liquor drink on ice that doesn't rhyme with ackery, icane or unner.  Sir, how many rum and cokes would you like?  

This actual event may have happened at the Landing when Jock's and Jill's was still there and during FL/GA weekend in '02
.

Last time I was at Caps some guy asked the bartender if they had an Oasis machine. The bartender told him they did. The guy asked him if they make a Miami Vice and the bartender said they do... but it's called a "pain in the ass".

[Jimmy]

Is that other coffee place still on the first floor of the Bank of America tower?

When I worked downtown, that's where I'd often go for a caffeine fix.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Last time I was at Caps some guy asked the bartender if they had an Oasis machine. The bartender told him they did. The guy asked him if they make a Miami Vice and the bartender said they do... but it's called a "pain in the ass".

Or as I tend to call it an "I'm sorry, we're all out."  Can I pour you a rum and coke or if it's for your 'girlfriend', how about a Malibu and pineapple?