The Evil Mermaid's Empire

Over the last year, my wife and I have started to frequent a new community coffee shop in our neighborhood in Lynn Valley, The Sugarsuite Cafe. It offers healthy, organic fare and really excellent coffee. In fact, I'd have to say their coffee is much better than those other guys, SBs, across the street. Maybe this is why SBs is getting so nervous in neighborhoods and strip malls across the continent: people are realizing that their offer of ersatz-culture and hip coffee is so disingenous while alternatively there are so many grass-roots, community-driven shops with better servings.

However, when big corporations like SBs get nervous about the little guys, they do strange things. Rumour in our neighborhood has it that just as Sugarsuite started up, SBs started bribing municipal officials—er, I mean offering the district special "charitable donations"—to expand their business license so that they would be considered an actual full-service restaurant, not just a coffee house. Hmmmm. Interesting....Starbucks a full-service restaurant? Although Sugarsuite offers soup, salads, grilled sandwiches and serves them to you at a table with real cutlery, I doubt many SB patrons have had that experience. Nonetheless, I bet you can guess which establishment here in Lynn Valley gets hassled about seating restrictions, because it is not licensed as a full-service restaurant.
Furthermore, because Sugarsuite promotes community art, rather than the latest generic jazz CD, "neighbors" have voiced complaints to the municipality about the noise generated by their poetry and acoustic musical nights. Strangely, none of the actual residential neighbors seem to be bothered by it because they are actually participating at the cafe. I wonder who these annoyed neighbors could be? Hmmmmm.

Some good news, though. We just got back from a morning coffee at Sugarsuite, and the place was packed. Again. This is starting to happen more and more, so it looks like people are rallying around the community-based business, with the better product, and without the specially purchased license. If only this trend continues into other areas of local versus big business...

It is very disturbing that big corporations like Starbucks, or Walmart, or HomeDepot, etc. can undermine the wants and needs of real communities, over and above the wants and needs of the exhorbitantly rewarded CEOs of these transnationals. When will members of communities stand-up for themselves, and send the big-boys packing?

For more on the evil empire of Starbucks see Reverend Billy's site on the matter:
http://www.revbilly.com/revsite/Sbucks/old/sbucks_flyer.html