Starbucks has a new name: “Charbucks”.
Locals in Taos, New Mexico, gave this nickname to the construction site of a Starbucks, where two arson attacks have already taken place.
The developer is again working to build the chain’s first drive-through cafe in the city of about 6,400 residents and is aiming for a spring 2025 opening in the city about 90 minutes north of Santa Fe.
The place was set on fire in August 2023 and then again two months later.
Nobody was injured.
Some chains that wanted to open in Taos backed out of their plans after the second fire.
The Taos City Council gave the green light to the deal because it would create jobs and tax revenue, the city’s economic development director said.
Taos has licensed Starbucks branches in two supermarkets.
“We don’t know who did it, but we really liked it,” said Todd Lazar, a holistic healer, at World Cup, Tao’s oldest independent coffee shop, which is a mile from the potential Starbucks.
Starbucks, which has around 39,500 cafes worldwide, has faced resistance to expanding into many markets, fearing it could displace existing culture.
Local businesses in Taos have displayed a Starbucks logo with a mermaid with flames shooting out of its head.
“Taos is a dynamic and volatile contact zone between different groups, imperial powers and ecotones,” said Sylvia Rodriguez, professor of anthropology at the University of New Mexico.
with post wires
