Starbucks in Charlotte On a Magical Journey
Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the NBA great sees magic in real estate and business projects focused on lower-income neighborhoods that are seeking revitalization, but that many other investors and businessmen shy away from.
One of those ventures for Magic Johnson, is a new Starbucks, which opened last Friday in Charlotte, NC amid a revitalization project underway in the Wilkinson Boulevard area. The newly opened Starbucks is the 99th store in a partnership between the basketball legend’s company: Johnson Development Corporation, and the Seattle based coffee company.
In the interview held at last Friday’s grand opening Johnson fielded questions from various media sources including local newspaper, “The Charlotte Observer”, Johnson revealed that he doesn’t drink coffee.
I’m a tea person and then in the wintertime I’m a hot chocolate person. We’ve got the best hot chocolate in the world.
When asked why it took Magic Johnson to bring Starbucks to Wilkinson Boulevard along with some of the other lower-income communities which have proven to be successful, he replied:
Everybody thought that minorities would not come and invest three or four dollars in a cup of coffee. This community deserves to have a Starbucks here and a chance to say whether they want to come inside or not. We just want options for our community. What this whole center provides for the community is not only great jobs, it provides great options, which were not here before. And that’s what is plaguing urban America is that we just don’t have options or choices of where to spend our disposable income, while other communities, they have that. We had the third-rate stores selling third-rate stuff. We don’t want that. Minorities want brands, just like suburban America wants, and they don’t mind paying for it, so long as it’s the best in class.
Ninety-nine magical partnerships with Starbucks and counting.
Magic, Magic, how are you ignorant? Let me count the ways.
“Everybody thought that minorities would not come and invest three or four dollars in a cup of coffee.”
Ummm, invest? Is that what it’s called now? FOFLMAO
“Minorities want brands…”
If anyone else said that…well, you know…
“what is plaguing urban America is that we just don’t have options or choices of where to spend our disposable income…”
There I was thinking that what was plaguing urban america was intractable poverty and decades of neglect of both the people and the infrastructure, policies that are designed to keep the urban poor both urban and poor, misguided programs and priorities and the gutting of all of the social/gov’t support systems in favor of corporate and richFolk tax breaks.
But no, what was really needed was branded coffee.
So. Out. Of. Touch.
Seriously, I find this partnership so sad. Why Starbucks? Why not start his own chain (if he wanted to bring “coffee investing” to the ‘hood) and set up franchises with community members as a means of keeping more of the money local? What about the locals who might have opened an indy espresso shop? (Did he actually say invest?)