Last Friday, the cupboard was bare of anything I wanted to eat, so I stopped at the Starbucks by my office for breakfast. Posted on the door was this sign.
Last day after 36 years was the next day. As I picked up my iced coffee and Ham & Cheese Croissant, I turned to the barista and told her I was surprised and sad to hear about the closing.
"You didn't know?"
The manager, who I have gotten to know over the past ten-plus years, turned and joined the conversation. I guess they had known they were closing for a while, and began telling their regulars in May. I was gone for most of the month, and by the time I got back, they probably thought it was old news.
We chatted for a bit. I said I was surprised that their store was on the chopping block. They are generally pretty busy, and the store had been remodeled just two years ago. I guess the store remodel was under the previous CEO, and the new CEO has other plans. My Starbucks is a smaller store with not a lot of seating, and it sounds like the focus is now supporting stores where folks can linger, a so-called Third Place.
From Wikipedia
American sociologist Ray Oldenburg called one's "first place" the home and the people the person lives with. The "second place" is the workplace—where people may actually spend most of their waking time. Third places, then, are "anchors" of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction.[2] In other words, "your third place is where you relax in public, where you encounter familiar faces and make new acquaintances.
When I go to a coffee shop to spend some time, not eating meals on the run, settling in to read a book, I do choose a different Starbucks and their comfy chairs. That said, my small Starbucks near my office is still a Third Place for me.
These days, I lose almost all my days off for two, two-month stretches each year. During those periods, I don't get to see friends outside the office much. My stops at my Starbucks during tax season are as much for the friendly faces and a mental break as much as it is for caffeine. There were moments like these from a February 2018 post that I won't soon forget.
There were the regular check-ins from the manager about how I was doing as the days and hours grew long. She had been at that Starbucks for twelve years, almost as long as I have been back in Washington and preparing taxes. There were hundreds of other small moments that kept me going when my energy and spirits were low. One of the last things the manager said to me on Friday was for me to make sure to take a vacation after this tax season is over.
Yes, it is just a chain coffee shop. Yes, I will save some money not having a place so close by to sneak away and grab a caffeine and sugar boost. And yes I shouldn't be leaning on a coffee shop to support my mental health. But it feels like I have been, and the store closing removes one of my Third Places. A joint where everybody knows your name. A space of calm during the storms. A tiny thread in the fabric. A place of support and joy as silly as that may sound. The store closing is not earthshattering, but the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to acknowledge it, and recognize how small things and kind people can make a difference.
Time to create better practices and find other spaces.
