[Publib] responses about Starbucks, coffee shops in general (long)

[Lise Chlebanowski]

Thanks for the compilation!

 

Lisë Chlebanowski

Library Manager

Avondale Public Library

(623) 478-3105

lchlebanowski at avondale.org

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read." 

Groucho Marx <http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Groucho_Marx/> 

 

 

________________________________

From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org [mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth Cuckow
Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 12:58 PM
To: publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] responses about Starbucks, coffee shops in general (long)

 

Several people were interested in the same topic, so I have compiled the responses. Thank you to everyone who responded.

 

I asked if there were any libraries that have coffee shops operated by Starbucks or other big chains. Multnomah County in Portland, Oregon is the only one that was mentioned. I have not contacted them yet, so I can't pass on any further information. 

 

Several libraries have coffee shops that are locally owned/operated, not chains:

 

Memphis Public Library, http://www.memphislibrary.org/friends/

main Broward County Library, http://www.broward.org/library/welcome.htm

Jefferson County Library (MO)

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, http://www.carnegielibrary.org/locations/firstfloor/tours/virtualtour/cafe.html

Oak Lawn Public Library 

Carrolton Public Library

Eugene Public Library

 

Other comments about who runs the shop, physical specs, etc. in no particular order:

 

"Hi, we have a local, family owned and operated coffee shop in our library.  We sought them out - had no luck getting larger firms interested, as we're a medium sized library. Work very closely with your health department for specs on sinks, etc.  The owner of our shop requested deep counters - which our architect didn't realize was needed. My concern now, is with the amount of noise generated by the blenders and grinders - it travels to all corners of our library - something I had not thought about."

 

"We decided we should have only one person from the library as the point person for contacting the vendor about problems etc.  It was decided that that person should be from the financial office, so I have little communication with our vendor other than pleasantries.  In the beginning he had an employee who was flippant and rude and unkempt by our standards (maybe not by college campus coffee house standards) and it took a long time - too long - to get her out of there.  There are computers adjacent to the café and the staff  *often* hops over on to one of the computers.  I personally think It should have been specified that they are not to be on the computers during their work shifts. When we had a snow storm in Feb and decided to close for the day, though, no one had the vendor's number on their emergency list so his employee showed up to work. We needed a much bigger trash can than anticipated."

 

"One matter you will have to obtain clearance from by your Board is allowing patrons to bring covered drinks into the Library.  If your board isn't willing to consider having covered drinks (at least) outside of the Café area, the situation could be unworkable. Also, you can't have conditions set down whereby the vendor is in a position to insist that only the drinks provided by her/his Café are permitted in the Library or have exclusive right on catering.  Opening a café in one's public library can be a complex and difficult matter with issues ranging from plumbing, board of health and zoning (retail unit in a tax supported entity) to those of common spills and refuse removal.  Involve your staff in the process of discussion and formulation of conditions."

 

" We have coffee shops in our branch libraries.  They are run by local small businesses not big chains.  They rent the space from us, we do NOTHING about running them.  The best thing to do is make sure your architect talks to your local environmental permitting people to make sure the space has the sinks, drains, etc required by your local code.  We went with very small spaces but you do have to have a certain number of sinks, special drain requirements etc.  In both locations the coffee shop is located with outside access and space for outside tables also. We used a bid process with our city purchasing office, the bids were advertised like any other city bid. Unless your location is incredibly busy the people going into it have be to aware it will not be a huge operation.  Also, both of our coffee shops probably do as much business in soft drinks and candy bars as they do coffee.  Both of ours have now put in coolers for ice cream treats.  Their clientele will be different than at a Starbucks or store that deals only with grownups coming for coffee.  A Storytime mom may get herself coffee, but she also needs to be able to get Clifford the Big Red Dog (Teddy) Grahams too.  The coffee shop in one library sells cups of ramen noodle soup, the student staple.  People don't come to the coffee shop just for the coffee shop, they just see it as an amenity at the library.  At one location we had a service window that opened into the library.  It created problems with noise,  the blender creating a smoothy makes a lot of noise, plus the conversation level in the coffee shop leaked out into the library.  The vendor has now blocked it off and isn't using it.  Other issues included a renter who did not pay their bills!  They put a lot of money into their décor but were completely unreliable otherwise.  They finally sold and we now have a couple who also run coffee/refreshment bars at a large hospital complex in Dallas who pay their bills! We did specify in our building plan that the rooms would be finished out  i.e have finished walls and ceilings so that if no one had bid on the space we could have just set coke and candy machines in them.  We are a suburban middle class library so our experience may be different than that of a library in a large downtown."

 

Elizabeth

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