Starbucks - Princeton, New JerseyI liked this Starbucks as soon as I saw it. It is located in a building that just screams out old world English charm in one of America's most historical cities that plays host to one of the world's most beautiful college campuses.
The footprint of the building is long and narrow with the service area being in the middle. I made my way to the back of the store where the over-stuffed furniture is located hoping to secure myself a seat. Of the four over-stuffed armed chairs, two being leather covered and two being orange cloth covered, only the cloth covered ones were available, and one of those was covered in crumbs. Just as I was deciding to sit in one of them, I heard my daughter's voice in my head repeating "bed bugs, bed bugs, bed bugs!" Needless to say, I headed for the near by table for two by the window, even though it provided a very limited view for people watching. No matter, I settle in with my Venti Tazo China Green Tips tea and begin my soldier's letter.
About half way into my first page, I notice the guy in one of the over-stuffed leather chairs making the "I'm leaving" movements. I quickly take up an offensive position for the smooth over-handed pass of my purse securing the leather chair for myself. Okay, I admit it, it was a little pushy, but that is one of the perks of being in the 50 and over club, people accept craziness from us, especially in this Starbucks where most are in the 20 something club. Once again settled in, I go back to my letter. Unfortunately the customers in this Starbucks are providing me with little inspiration for my letter, most are students with the noses either in books or their eyes focused on their computer screen. I find myself day-dreaming about the two men who sat in the cloth covered chair without brushing off the crumbs. Why is that? Were they clueless? Did they just not care? Puzzling.
After moments of writer's block, I pack up and move to the window seats in the front. If the customers weren't going to be interesting maybe the foot traffic would be. It didn't take long for me to realize that now I was actually a part of the entertainment for the foot traffic. Most people passing by turned to look into Starbucks. Some would smile at me, while others would quickly look away when they caught my eye. At least now I had some material. I wrote about the clothes, shoes and electronic devices and the beauty of the Princeton University campus.
MY COMFORT COMMENT: I loved the window seat, however the bar is too high for comfortable writing. I had to use a notebook placed on my lap. As for the over-stuffed chairs, the leather chairs are nice, the cloth ones, well they just looked dirty. There seem to be plenty of tables located near outlets for computer users.
MY SHOP CRITIQUE: I don't even like thinking about bed bugs in hotels, I especially don't want to go into a Starbucks and have a chair covered in crumbs bring bed bugs to mind. Yes, I KNOW bed bugs aren't there for the crumbs....ew, ew, ew!!! The coffee table between the over-stuffed chairs was covered with dirty cups and napkins. No one ever came over to clear it or to even have a look. The unisex restroom had paper towels all over the floor and the soap dispenser was hanging open off the wall with a puddle of soap on the floor beneath it. I opted for a water wash followed by a squirt of my own germ-X antibacterial hand sanitizer. Uh, wonder if the germ-X could take care of the bed bugs?
MY EMPLOYEE COMMENT: The employees were young and helpful at the service area. I could tell from their reaction to one another that they seemed happy working at this store. However, they seemed to be unconcerned about the state of the store.
HELPFUL/INFORMATIONAL WEB-SITES:
http://www.forbes.com/ (search for world's most beautiful college campuses)
I am finally reading this blog - which is impressive since I feel like my eyes are going to fall out from READING ALL DAY. I tried to go to this Starbucks today but it was too crowded. I then tried Small World but it was even more crowded. I ended up at Chez Alice. It is a coffee shop that specializes in wedding cakes. I was in there for like twenty minutes when a better table opened up and I started to move to the other table when the owner came over to me and told me to just stay where I was because "You students come and stay the whole day. It's killing me. I need my tables." I was super offended. I spent $5 to buy a coffee and a juice and he thinks it's okay to tell me where i can and can not sit. I won't be going back there again and when I get married in Princeton I will not order my wedding cake from him. He probably lost like $1,000 just so that he could keep a tiny little table open. And the best part is...nobody else even came into the coffee shop - that table stayed open the whole night.
ReplyDeleteThey are men! They don't notice such things and if they did they wouldn't care!
ReplyDelete