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Letter to the editor

Brooksville buzz: Starbucks

By BARBARA BEHRENDT
Published June 9, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Brooksville resident Paul Dietrich strode through the front door mid morning Friday wearing a big smile.

"I'm so glad you are here, " he told the employees gathered around the counter eager to serve him.

Dietrich wasn't the only happy one.

Dozens of residents, avid coffee enthusiasts and the curious proved Friday that the Starbucks buzz in Brooksville wasn't coming just from the double-shot espresso machine.

Opening day for Hernando County's first freestanding Starbucks started a bit slow, with only a handful of customers before dawn.

Yet as the morning stretched toward noon, there were steadier streams of patrons sitting and chatting, waiting for their lattes and gazing indecisively into the enticing pastry case.

Reclining in a comfy chair beside the store's coffee, mug and coffee machine display, Marshall Morris was clearly enjoying the lineup at the counter.

Morris, the Starbucks district manager for this area, said that an informal opening Thursday night brought a crowd out to see the new retail outlet. That bodes well for good nighttime traffic, he said.

That gathering also raised some donations for the United Way, the retailer's first charitable shot in the arm for the community, Morris said.

The Brooksville Starbucks, next to the new Publix on the State Road 50 bypass, is 2, 500 square feet, with seating for 23 people inside and 15 outside. There are 14 employees.

Two other Starbucks are planned for Hernando in the coming months, but Morris had no information on when those will open. One will be near the intersection of Cortez and Mariner boulevards; the other will be in a new strip center at Mariner and Northcliffe boulevards in Spring Hill.

Hours at the Brooksville location are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Wireless Internet service is not yet available.

The early starting hour, while it didn't bring in any patrons Friday, is aimed at local commuters, so they "can get something to wake them up on their way down the Veterans Expressway or (U.S.) 41, " Morris said. "They deserve to have a great cup of coffee."

And coffee is indeed the focus, from the beans with smooth floral flavors from Ethiopia to the spicy and exotic Arabian Mocha Sanani.

But Morris said the "magic" of Starbucks - founded in Seattle's Pike Place Market in 1971 - is also about the people, both the customers and the employees, who are called "partners."

In time, people get to know their Starbucks and one another. It becomes a gathering place.

"It's like a sense of belonging, " he said.

And the coffee? "It's a luxury they can afford, " he said.

For one group of five arriving on opening day, the novelty of the experience was at first lost on them. The five - residents of coffee-loving Colombia - were in Hernando County to visit a cement plant.

They were actually looking for a Starbucks, not realizing they had picked the perfect day to visit Brooksville.

Once they learned about the occasion, they posed in the middle of the restaurant and asked an employee to snap their picture.

Juan Valdez, eat your heart out.

So how did the booming coffeehouse company know that Brooksville was finally ready for its first Starbucks?

According to marketing specialist Chris Cindrick, "we're always looking for places to expand where customers are looking for us."

Morris agreed.

"We wanted to share the Starbucks experience with customers who were driving too far to get to a Starbucks, " he said.

That's what store manager Nordra Brown heard from customers early Friday.

Brooksville native Shalena Dickinson stopped by Friday morning for her Caramel Frappuccino fix.

"I just happened to be riding by, so I looked to see if it had opened yet, " she said.

Dickinson said she was happy to see the business arrive.

"We're getting modernized, " she said. "We're finally getting up with the times."

Jim Dean, another area resident, was also glad to see a Starbucks in his neighborhood, though he was not sure whether the business fits in.

"I'm glad for Brooksville because it gives it a little more class. It needs a lot more, " he said.

But Dean said he wondered if more people in town were probably just as happy working on their pickup truck and drinking a beer.

The proof of success comes later, said Dietrich, who has lived in the community for more than 20 years.

"It'll be interesting to see six months from now if, at 2 in the afternoon, you've got a dozen people sitting in here with their laptops working or conducting their home business, " he said.

"Then we'll know if this was needed."

Barbara Behrendt can be reached at behrendt@sptimes.com or (352) 848-1434.

[Last modified June 8, 2007, 21:23:16]