Starbucks - New Hope, Pennsylvania



New Hope, Pennsylvania
East Bridge Street



As I sit here thinking about the blog for this Starbucks,  I'm struggling.  If you look at the Photo Review of the Starbucks that I have visited this year, I think that you will agree with me that the most interesting ones from the street are the Starbucks located in interesting or older buildings.  I can even say that the Moorestown building is growing on me since I've started this project.  I do like it better than the Cherry Hill or Marlton or Commack buildings even though I do believe that the Cherry Hill and the Commack buildings were also buildings or spaces that Starbucks rescued.  And I do give kudos to Starbucks for not simply tearing down a perfectly good building to build a new one.  But the building that this Starbucks is located in is just one ugly building on the outside.  It is probably a great location for Starbucks though since it is located at one of the busiest intersections and at the bridge to New Jersey.  It does have a nice covered porch with plenty of tables. 



New Hope is a great little artsy town on the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey.  It is full of wonderful art studios, craft shops, cafes and restaurants.  Unfortunately, bikers have decided that this makes the ideal destination for the weekend joy ride.  Now I have no problem with motocycles, I actually like the thrill of a good ride, but the noise can be very unpleasant.  I have even sworn in the past that I will never go to New Hope again due to the noise level of the motorcycles.  I find no joy or relaxation in having to shout to talk with the person next to me or to feel the need to cover my ears.  So, personally I don't put a lot of value on the front porch at this Starbucks.  I feel that the bikers should be forced to quiet their cycles before they enter the town or to park their bikes at some location and walk into town. 



Nice tables

Arsty



I really liked these tables.  You could adjust them to suit your space needs.  I thought that they were special to this Starbucks, but my daughter told me that her Starbucks, wherever "her" Starbucks is, has the same tables.


Strange comfy chair
At first glance, I thought no way this chair is going to be comfortable for the next couple of hours while I write my soldier's letter.   How wrong I was, I really enjoyed this chair without arms.  Although I did feel a little exposed.



 COMFORT COMMENTS:  There were limited "comfortable" seats in this Starbucks.  There were two like the one above and limited comfortable seating in the back room of the shop.  Between the entrance room, the back room and the front porch there seemed to plenty of seating.  Never were all of the seats taken at one time.  I think because New Hope is more of a tourist, shopping town, few people come to this Starbucks to work on their computers and to sit for long periods of time.  There was at least one round table with a game top for checkers.

SHOP CRITIQUE:  The traffic flow in this Starbucks Coffee is very poor.  It is confusing for customers to know where to order and where to wait.  The condiments area was right in the middle of all of that causing customers to have to squeeze around others tweaking their coffee.  Starbucks should have knocked out the dividing wall between the service area and the back room, which I found depressing.  The back room was just a large room with seating.  It had little connection to the main Starbucks Coffee shop and two paintings were missing from the wall.  Why when the paintings were removed Starbucks didn't bother to take the hanging hardware down is beyond me.  To be excellent, details matter!  Details should matter to Starbucks, especially since they are selling more than coffee.  The restrooms and shop were clean.  However, the restroom had one of the soap dispensers on the wall, which drips soap onto the floor.

EMPLOYEE COMMENTS:  The employees were busy and friendly.  They were attentive to the condiments table, which is always nice.

PET PEEVE:  Why do parents feel that allowing their children to roam a store unattended is okay?  I watched a little girl play with all of the yogurt/fruit parfaits in the refrigerated case.  So who do you glare at the little girl or the parents?

HELPFUL/INFORMATIONAL WEB-SITES:
http://www.starbucks.com/
http://www.soldiersangels.org/
http://www.newhopepa.com/

*http://waaaaaay-to-loud.blogspot.com/ and  *http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090304054036AAtrmDb    Just to prove I'm not alone on the noise issue