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[Keebbles]

giant Starbucks...
Not cause of success, but cause of corporate restructuring and cost savings.
This was in a prime location downtown in a small town.
A woman who started a coffee shop right across the street managed to stay alive through all the corporate competition and crap that came her way to close up.
She persisted and is still there and now is scooping up all the business herself that the loss of the local starbucks caused.
Her business has basically doubled almost every week since. (saw this piece on CNN or Fox News early this morning, don't watch the talking heads, but I did look up at the piece when the owner was talking- and yes, I was listening.)

Now I wonder does the Coffee shop in QC have to deal with a local Starbucks equivalent too?
If so, I'm betting even in a small NE town like theirs, that it would be closed to save money sooner than later making it seem like they WON!

I'd love to see the cafe's reaction to Winning the caffeine wars and the reaction of coffee adicts to having to go back to get a serving of Faye w/their coffee after discovering the mega-chain coffee shop is now closed.

Probably w/o warning.

Probably with a sign telling them to go to the next town over or to the mall where their next closest shop is located for "Name" brand "Fancyschmancy" named coffee.
Sign probably defaced by an unknown subject (cough) indicating that the "Abuse" coffee shop is still open and w/in walking distance too.

Would we discover that secretly the girls all sneak coffee from the "Named" chain occassionally and now are in a predicament?

How would they handle all of the new business? Would they find and rehire the blond girl who supposedly became Pizza Girl? (the one that disappeared, from the strip that is.)

What kind of power could they now wield by being one of the few coffee shops downtown to feed the caffeine addicts...especially those in Town Hall (I could see a lacky being sent down to pick up an order and sighing while he explains- yes he knows they aren't starbucks, but the mayor and city council refuse to acknowledge that fact (denial) so please make them something special so they can continue to think they are special too. And of course the malicious glint the girls would get in their eyes at that opportunity. Especially if City Council/Mayor have in past screwed w/them or rezoned taxes in favor of Starbucks over real small businesses in town...

What other problems and hijinx might occur? You know the recession is gonna hit their town eventually (maybe even putting beggars, musicicians and hobos out of work as real folks squat on their begging spots err...business locations.)

Even w/recession hitting if real life is reflected, the everywhere coffee shops of Starbucks would recede especially in small towns like that. (They seem to be the biggest hit since Jan-Feb time period during restructuring of Starbucks assets and employees.)

What do you think will change in the small tourist town of QC due to the recession?

[KickThatBathProf]

Absolutely nothing.  It is a comic strip.

[Random832]

How would they handle all of the new business? Would they find and rehire the blond girl who supposedly became Pizza Girl? (the one that disappeared, from the strip that is.)

Um, she was in the comic just last week.

[pwhodges]

Confusion with Sara, perhaps?

[akronnick]

And you can't rehire someone who's been eaten by an allosaurus.

[Norton Quintessential]

You CAN, it's just really gross and they're not that effective at their job anymore.

[moshimoshi_haihai]

right, pizza girl is supposedly Penelope, not Sara. Keebles was thinking of Sara and Random832 was thinking of Penelope.

As for this hypothetical conspiracy....
what?
First of all, i doubt that the girls steal from Starbucks. I always imagined them using some sort of obscure coffee that is actually great. Kinda like the coffee they serve at the local coffee shop, Donkey, in Athens, Ohio. Donkey has been awarded with "Best Coffee Shop in Ohio" before.

Second of all, the girls, namely Dora, would probably not be concerned with winning or losing to the competition. especially seeing as they hit it fairly big with the great review and the small town Coffee of Doom is located seems to appreciate the service there. It's an Ed Debevic's concept that some towns and some people just seem to get.

So yea, they have a lot of business and they seem to be doing fine. And i seriously doubt this is anything Jeph would consider because as stated before...it's a comic strip.

[Is it cold in here?]

Would we discover that secretly the girls all sneak coffee from the "Named" chain occassionally and now are in a predicament?

Guest strip 671 played with the idea that Marten was secretly going to Starbuck's.

[Doug S. Machina]

It could be fun if a chain-store behemoth opened on the same street and started to soak up their business, so Dora asks Hannelore for some devious semi-legal business advice from her mother - or Mrs. Ellicott-Chatham makes a few calls and has the chain store condemned and the manager tarred and feathered. It could happen.

[Random832]

First of all, i doubt that the girls steal from Starbucks. I always imagined them using some sort of obscure coffee that is actually great.

Huh? What was suggested was that they _drink_ coffee from *$ (sneaking it because it would be bad for business to be seen preferring to drink coffee other than their own), not that they steal it and sell it.

[LTK]

Queequegs will take over Starbucks. Any time now...

[moshimoshi_haihai]

ah, i misunderstood. which might have something to do with why the idea seemed particularly absurd to me.