Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Third Place

Where do you feel the most comfortable? Where do you spend most of your time? Where do you go everyday, no matter what?

Most people would say (1) Home and (2) Work...

Starbucks has developed a THIRD PLACE principle. The hope is that in addition to home and work, a customer would feel most comfortable...spend free time...make a daily stop at...their local Starbucks.

Every morning on my way to work I stop at East Coast Bagels and Starbucks. At each stop they know my name, and my order. I am greeted with a smile and "How are you doing?" before going on with the order (which is typically a confirmation that I want "the usual").

I love that. It's a great start to my morning. The woman at the bagel store often tells me I look nice...or says I'm running a little behind schedule. Last week the credit card machine was down and I was out of cash (who even carries cash these days?) and she gave me my food and let me pay the next day. The woman at Starbucks told me she recognized me from the bagel store--when she was in there on her break. She's called me by name everyday since.

I have great first and second places...but I love my third and fourth, too.

3 comments:

Matt Jensen said...

East Coast Bagels is friggin' fuggin' good!

yazz said...

I think I would have to say the classics. Shakespeare, even though that would probably be generic for anyone to rattle off. I love him. I love the subtle play on words, the humor, the whole of it. Next I would have to say that I do love Jane Austen, I'm about to start reading persuasion, we'll see how it goes. I also love Robert Louis Stevenson...Treasure Island is a goody. I'm into the Victorian Period of British Literature. I'm a big fan of Robert Browning's poetry. I like poems a lot. I really like D.H. Lawerence, especially how controversial he was. My favorite is Women in Love....Janey Eyre is another great classic. Basically. The classics. I don't keep up with the modern stuff. :-/....how about you?

Leigh Sarti said...

I am sure the peeps are nice at East Coast Bagels... but I swear every time I get strawberry cream cheese it tastes like garlic. This is not a pleasant surprise!