Starbucks is closing 300 US stores and putting nearly 7000 employees out of work, and whether or not that will have an effect on the local stores is yet to be seen.
We are, however, getting a new coffee chain along with corporate offices. Coffee Culture’s headquarters will be moving into the nearly new, Uniland-built office building at 285 Dealware, just up the street from a Starbucks and a SPoT Coffee shop. They will not open a shop so close to the corner we like to refer to as Chippewa and Coffee, but intend to open in Williamsville and Ellicottville, with an eye toward opening a shop in the Elmwood Village somewhere down the road.
Coffee Culture is a Mississauga based chain (very close to Timmy Ho HQ in Oakville, ON) with affiliates in the US, under the name Coffee Culture New York Inc.
Along with Labatt USA headquarters, Coffee Culture is the second Canadian company to bring headquarters here, and within just a few blocks of each other. Add to that New Era Cap, M & T Bank and Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Western New York’s company headquarters and we’re seeing a growing corporate contingent in a small swath of downtown Buffalo. Little by little…
So, has anyone checked out a Coffee Culture yet?