Every time one of Laura’s family visits from the West Coast we get the inevitable comment about there being a church on every corner. The comment is valid. Even as a native I’m surprised when I turn a corner to find a large Greek Revival structure I’d not spotted before – and that doesn’t even include the store-front churches that pop-up just about everywhere.
So, I guess my friends here in the Pacific Northwest have the same reaction when I comment about there being a coffee shop on every corner. I’m stating the obvious. After all, this is the home of Starbucks.
I’m accustomed to seeing the larger walk-in shops such as Starbucks. What strikes me here are the tiny drive-up espresso shops that seem to be on every corner. If they are mostly independent, they tend to be tiny, such as this one…
Those with a bit more corporate backing tend to be a little more elaborate…
…and of course, there’s Starbucks. At one intersection in Burlington I could see no less than four different Starbucks places – three separate shops and one in a supermarket. Going back to our church analogy, I guess they would be the equivalent of the Baptist church, in terms of density and distribution.
I wanted to do a Google Fusion Table density map to compare the number of coffee shops at home with the number here. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get an accurate data list, and I couldn’t get Fusion Tables to display the data like I wanted. However, I was able to use from data National Coffee Guide. It has some major gaps and is woefully incomplete, but it’s adequate for a comparison. Here’s Upstate South Carolina…
…and here’s roughly the same geographic area around the Puget Sound…
Of course, there’s a greater population density around a major city such as Seattle.
Back to churches, though, here’s a plot of those in the Burlington area…
…and here are those in the Greenville area…
So, coffee houses on every corner in the Northwest, and churches on every corner in the Southeast. Truth be told, there’s not that much diversity in either. Sure, there are different denominations and I’m sure there would be arguments about liberal vs conservative theologies. But the preponderance of churches are orthodox Christian. There aren’t very many mosques or synagogues in the area.
Likewise, most of these coffee shops offer similar products – coffee, espresso drinks, and some seasonal variations. You don’t find very many tea or fruit smoothie shops in the area.
However, if Starbucks are analogous to Baptists, I’m not quite sure where this fits in…
That one seems to be popular. There are apparently some that cater to more tastes than just coffee. I’ve spotted two such “bikini barista” shops in the area. I guess they must be Episcopalian 😉
Coffee shop-church analogies aside, there is something about the rainy, cool weather that makes one crave a cup. Which brings up a puzzle. It was just as rainy and cool when we visited Maine a couple of years ago. However, we had to search and search for an espresso shop. I think there might be some business potential there. I’ll just have to see if my bikini still fits.