![]() ![]() Friends have been struck by the unusually welcoming atmosphere. Incidents like that happen frequently.”Īnd yet, DiMouro likes the vibe better than at other Starbucks. “I’ve seen unhoused individuals - who were getting free food - spit on the staff. Security happened to be standing behind him,” DiMouro told me. “Earlier today a young man took all the chocolate-covered coffee beans and tried to take the tip jar. That’s given her a front-row seat for its challenges. A curriculum developer for an education nonprofit, she’s used this Starbucks as her office for six hours at a stretch. She’s been a customer off and on since 2006, and almost daily the past two years. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG)ĭiMouro entered. Although she’s witnessed incidents involving aggressive homeless people, she likes the shop’s friendly vibe. Amy DiMouro, pictured Monday, visits the downtown Pomona Starbucks almost daily. Traffic slowed as the sun dipped in late afternoon, but I was never alone. Only a few might have been unhoused, and they blended right in, just part of the mix. People got food or drinks to go, picked up mobile orders or sat for a while. A steady stream of customers came and went.īetween 3 and 4 p.m., after school let out, there were never fewer than 10 customers and usually 15 or 20. I returned to Starbucks on Monday afternoon to write this column from the cafe. “I think there’s a lot of broken hearts here at City Hall.”ĭoes he see many Starbucks cups among his co-workers? Said Gluba, who was in a meeting: “There’s a cup right now on the desk I’m at in the city manager’s office.” It always seems busy,” Mark Gluba, the assistant city manager, told me by phone. “We’re surprised there isn’t enough business to keep it going. Possible new civic motto: Ciudad del Cafe (city of coffee).Ĭity Hall, directly across Mission from this Starbucks, is a reliable customer base. Right now, by the way, this 72% Latino city has 12 Starbucks outlets. A second is scheduled for August on Garey and Lexington avenues in a former Burger King, south of downtown.Īll current employees will transfer, said Rodrigo, who will manage the Garey and Lexington shop. ![]() It might be considered good news that like the Hydra from Greek legend (and Marvel Comics supervillainy), if you cut off one Starbucks in Pomona, two will take its place.Īccording to Rodrigo, one is due to open in May on Garey Avenue and Arrow Highway, north of downtown. (Photo by David Allen, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin/SCNG) The building stands on the corner of Mission Boulevard and Garey Avenue, a major intersection in downtown Pomona. Mission Promenade is seen after dark on Monday evening. Rodrigo confirmed that she was announcing the official closing. Spidey-sense tingling, I introduced myself. 15.”Ī regular customer, Amy DiMouro, left her table to commiserate with Rodrigo. ![]() That’s where I heard Rodrigo announce to her staff: “4 p.m. 22 to work from the cafe prior to the City Council meeting. I’d heard from Starbucks regular Beth Brooks that the end was near. The center has several restaurants and a US Bank branch, but a couple of the ground-floor spaces have never been occupied in 20 years. City Hall’s redevelopment agency ended up as owner for a decade before businessman John Peña bought it for nearly $6 million in 2018. “Very few sit-down-only Starbucks outside big city downtowns are left,” Hank Fung, a Pomona native and occasional customer of this Starbucks, told me via X. No drive-thru, just a cafe, as befits its urban setting. Even as independent coffeehouses began to open downtown in recent years - I count three within a few blocks: Mi Cafecito, Wish You Were Here and Thirsty Girl - Starbucks has remained a popular hub. Given downtown’s near-death experience in the 1990s before becoming an arts haven, the arrival of the world’s most successful coffee chain seemed miraculous. Placing a bet on downtown, Starbucks was the first tenant. The three-story, mixed-use project has condos on the top floor, offices on the second and retail on the first, an urban-style development built right up to the street corner. Mission Promenade opened in 2003 as the first new construction in the downtown core since 1980. And their arrival, or departure, can seem like a bellwether for a neighborhood’s health. Yet even corporate chains can fit snugly into a community. ![]() One Starbucks more or less hardly matters in the scheme of things. Despite the seemingly brisk business, the shop will close Feb. Customers pack into the downtown Pomona Starbucks at mid-afternoon Monday. ![]()
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