Help! Starbucks is invading Prague! / Pomoc! Starbucks se vrha do Prahy!

The ultimate evil has finally descended onto the streets of beautiful Prague! What am I talking about? The first Starbucks will be opening there at the end of the month. This cookie-cutter,McDonald’s-like restaurant chain, where even the toilet bowl faces in exactly the same angle at every single Starbucks location in the world, will be located at the Gromlingovsky palace at the Malostranske square. Gromlingovsky palace has been a hang-out place of famous philosophers, writers and other various artists for centuries and this tradition is basically going to end right here. Why? Because the Starbucks sterile and monotone environment does not exactly wake up one’s creative muse. Don’t get me wrong, I love Starbucks. I love it so much that I used to work there for about 3 years ( that’s a story for some other time – or post). The coffee quality is great and consistent and it basically saved the US from drinking mud water until eternity. But does Europe need Starbucks? Does Prague need Starbucks?? NO! Our espressos are already the top of the line as far as quality goes and the local coffee shop atmosphere is to die for..it is so unique and cozy! I personally predict that this is the beginning of the end for many of the great mom-n-pop’s coffeehouses that – until now – have been doing very well as far as profit and traffic goes. Why? Because 99% of those Prague tourists will chose to go to a “safe” and familiar environment of Starbucks than to “risk their life” by visiting one of those unknown places.

The poll of www.ekonomika.idnes.cz reveals some scary data regarding this topic. When asked if people would visit Starbucks on a regular basis,

• 3,321 people said they DON’T KNOW what “Starbucks” was
• 1,785 said YES
• 936 said NO

As they say: “Ignorance is a bliss”. In other words, if you don’t know about something, it is impossible to complain about it..

CZ: Tak uz je to tady….na konci ledna se v Praze otevre pvni Starbucks! Tato kavarna “McDonaldovskeho” typu jiz tise sidli na Malostranskem Namesti a to v opravenem Gromlingovskem palaci, kde se pry po staleti slezali vyznacni spisovatele, filosofove a umelci. No, tomuto trendu je uz konec protoze Starbuckovske prostredi opravdu toho tvurciho ducha jentak nevzbudi. Pozor, rada bych upresnila muj postoj vuci tomuto kavarenskemu retezci. Starbucks dela vyborne kafe a jeho kvalita se ze dne na den nemeni (Ja si dovoluji mluvit autoritativnim tonem na toto tema, ponevadz jsem ve Starbucksu 3 roky pracovala – ale to je tema na nekdy jindy). To znamena, ze ve Spojenych Statech to byl obrovsky prinos, jelikoz tu dobre kafe pred Starbucksem k mani proste nebylo. Ale v Evrope? A v Praze??? Vzdyt ty nase prazske kavarnicky maji ta nejlepsi presa na svete! A ta jejich atmosfera nema obdoby (minim to v dobrem, samozrejme). Ja si osobne myslim, ze toto je bohuzel zacatek konce mnoha vynikajicich mistnich kavarnicek, ktere doposud prospivaly bez problemu. A proc? Protoze 99% turistu si zamiri do “bezpecneho” prostredi Starbucksu, nez ze by odvazne vkrocili do kavarny nezname.

Anketa “ekonomika.idnes.cz” se zeptala lidi zdali by do Starbucksu chodili, kdyby se v jejich meste otevrel a:

• 3321 lidi reklo, ze Starbucks NEZNA
• 1785 je pro
• 936 je proti

Tak tady to mate; jak se rika v anglictine, “ignorance is a bliss” – tedy, kdyz neco neznate, tak si na to ani nemuzete stezovat.

Source: http://ekonomika.idnes.cz/mf-dnes-sit-kavaren-starbucks-jde-do-ceska-f1u-/ekoakcie.asp?c=A070329_205910_ekoakcie_ost