Recent Comments:
Starbucks in Jackson Square??? Neaux Way!
Blogging New Orleans
May 11th 2007 1:12AM Although it would be ideal to have a charming local cafe set up in this spot, if none come forward it really is ultimately more detrimental to the French Quarter to reject a solid business like Starbucks from setting up there. At some point the charm factor is tapped out and if a community hopes to prosper(or better yet survive) economically then it has to let down it's barriers to "outsiders" like a Starbucks coffeeshop. I don't believe that the New Orleans economy has the luxury anymore to pick and choose who it wants to help it recover from not only Katrina, but also decades of economic neglect. Furthermore, if tourism is the engine that will sustain the Quarter then why not give tourists from around the world a choice to grab a starbucks? As a local you can still go to the sublime cafes with much better coffee and I imagine many more adventurous visitors will do the same, but there are many tourists who may just want the simple vanilla familiarity of Starbucks during their week in New Orleans while they eat and drink things they've never imagined anywhere else. At some point there has to be a compromise or else the idea of a prosperous New Orleans won't stand a chance.
