The new Starbucks on University Hill, across from the CU Bookstore. (Bryan Borenstein/CU Independent)
New to Boulder’s University Hill commercial area is another Starbucks café that seeks to attract students passing through on their way to campus.
On Friday, Feb. 28, Starbucks opened its 13th Boulder location at the corner of 14th Street and College Avenue. The store is located in the complex that once housed Zanitas Mexican Restaurant and Jones General Store across the University Hill underpass from the economics building.
Shaina Edlin, a Starbucks employee and a freshman at CU, said that despite the store’s close proximity to two other Starbucks storefronts, its location still draws students.
“Students living on the Hill needed a coffee shop on their walks to campus,” Edlin said. Centrally located, surrounded by stores and houses and across the street from campus, the new shop has already seen traffic from Buffs en route to class.
Business waxes and wanes with students and their respective academic and extracurricular schedules. “In the mornings, it’s slow before 8. It’s dead, [but] once 9:30 hits, it’s slammed all the way to the door,” Edlin said. She figures the steady business can be attributed to the store’s “close proximity to the UMC and Norlin Quad, so customers order for take-out.” This is especially true during the school day, after which students are more inclined to stay and study.
Although some are concerned about the chain’s effect on several nearby coffeehouses, CU students have faith in their local favorites. Jane Baker, a 19-year-old freshman psychology and studio art major who works at Buchanan’s Coffee Pub, doesn’t believe the new Starbucks will influence Buchanan’s business.
“Repeat customers are very loyal,” Baker said.
Freshman Joy Montgomery, a weekly Buchanan’s customer, can attest to the store’s supportive customer base. She notes that “the people that come come regularly.” For Montgomery, an open option student, her unwavering devotion to Buchanan’s stems from the high quality of its coffee.
“I enjoy good quality, not coffee that’s been burnt and/or watered down,” Montgomery said. “I’m also conscious about where my coffee comes from.”
Unlike Montgomery, Jade Fudge, a junior psychology and education major, is a Starbucks enthusiast. Fudge, 20, is a reliable customer who has “come to Starbucks for the past couple years for the vanilla latte.”
Fudge’s friend, junior history and Jewish studies major Aliyah Lasky, 22, raves about the store’s location in relation to campus.
“The location is really convenient,” Lasky said. “It’s a good place to get work done.”
The store is open from 5 a.m. to 12 a.m. daily and serves the typical assortment of baked goods and beverages available in Starbucks stores nationwide.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Ryan Wentz at Ryan.wentz@colorado.edu.
