Soon to Buzz Through Buzzberry?

BuzzBerry at Night

A recent notification was sent out by the City of Scottsdale indicating that the existing restaurant, BuzzBerry (http://www.geturbuzz.com) has applied for a use permit to upgrade the coffee shop to a drive-through.  While this is an obvious need for a coffee shop in this type of location, it won’t change how I feel about the place.

I had originally anticipated the opening of this coffee shop back in October of 2009 (New Coffee Shop Set to Open in Scottsdale) and was quickly disappointed by the odd mis-matched and cluttered decor, and menu.  When I purchase a cup of coffee, the last thing I want to do for my $2.25 is pour it myself.

When Echo Coffee came along, I quickly shifted and found that the atmosphere, music, and blend of beverages was superior enough to warrant the 10 minute drive, instead of the 2 minute walk.

So, will having a drive through cause problems for the area?  Probably not.  Will it increase sales?  Probably.  Will the coffee taste any better?  I doubt it.  But at least in the drive through they’ll fill it for you :) .

  • Soon to Buzz Through Buzzberry? A recent notification was sent out by the City of Scottsdale indicating that the existing restaurant, BuzzBerry (http://www.geturbuzz.com) has applied for a use permit to upgrade the coffee shop to a drive-through.  While this is an obvious need for a cof...
  • This Is Going to Hurt The economic crisis as we have experienced it thus far has been rather devastating.  I have close friends who are out of work, who have been forced to sell their homes for less than they owe, and who have lost everything they have.  I'm thankful that I'm ...
  • Echo Coffee, Finally Someone Did It Right I'm not sure what makes Starbucks so appealing to so many people, aside from the rinse/repeat consistency across the entire franchise. It's more like a candy store than a coffee shop. When I picture a coffee shop, I can't help but revert to memories of ...
  • Coffee Plantation Locks Down WIFI I recently wrote an article about Coffee Plantation because it's where I typically go when I need to get out of the house and get on the internet. Today, I purchased my $2.00 coffee (amazing profit margin) and was asked by the Barrista if I had a cod...
  • Coffee Plantation: Outdated, Old, Boring "More Than Just Great Coffee." That's the claim that I read when I walk into Coffee Plantation at Shea Blvd and Scottsdale Road in the Harkin's Shea 14 plaza.  What I haven't yet figured out is, what more?  What more than coffee do they offer besides f...

This Is Going to Hurt

MORNINGSTAR

The economic crisis as we have experienced it thus far has been rather devastating.  I have close friends who are out of work, who have been forced to sell their homes for less than they owe, and who have lost everything they have.  I’m thankful that I’m able to be there to help them through this time.

All but one of the homes that I have sold in the past 2 years has been under water.  I also haven’t placed a buyer in a non-distressed home (short sale or foreclosure) in the same time frame.

Some said that we would be out of this mess by now.  Reality dictates otherwise, and it’s been that way for a while.  We can continue down a road of denial steeped in a bog of irresponsible optimism, or we can open our eyes and see the housing market for what it is.

If you’ll recall, when the market shot through the roof sporting unsustainable prices, it was a direct result of lenders offering incentives (free money) to people who weren’t in a financial position to buy stamps, let alone a house.  When you give money away, you are effectively stealing future business from the marketplace.  In other words, millions of people who would have otherwise not purchased a home until a future date were lured into buying.

The consequences of those purchases resulted in a surplus of homes, and if you know anything about the laws of supply and demand, when there’s too much supply, the price of the product naturally falls because the suppliers (home sellers) are forced to compete against each other, which means lowering their prices to be competitive.

Many economists share the opinion that the free market can take care of itself without intervention.  One example of intervention is minimum wage.  Minimum wage is an example of a price floor.  In other words, we artificially set a price for the supply of labor regardless of the demand.  It’s manipulation of the basic laws of supply and demand, and it doesn’t work.

In the real estate market, we recently went through a period where the government offered $8,000 to anyone who entered into a purchase contract to buy a home before April 30th.  Sound familiar?  By offering money to people who would have otherwise not purchased stamps, let alone a house (see the pattern?) we have yet again borrowed from the future to acquire buyers to buy now.  Naturally, when the dangling carrot is revoked, sales fall off, and the market begins to correct itself.  Unfortunately, like any swing, it will over-correct by swinging past the balancing point, and this will lead yet again to more foreclosures, more short sales, and more unemployment.

It’s 2010.  We are nowhere near recovering.  In fact, we are in the midst of a wave of mortgage rate resets that are going to devastate the 2nd batch of unsuspecting home-owners who had no idea what type of loans they were getting themselves into back in 2005 and later.

So what makes me think there’s a problem?

Option ARM mortgages.  These are miserable products, and there are billions of dollars worth of Option ARMs (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) that are resetting over the next 2 years.  Option ARM mortgages have a very low rate of interest in the beginning, and even allow for the borrower to go negative on their mortgage.  In other words, their payment can be so low that the balance of their loan increases instead of decreases as they may payments.  What a bargain!  In the midst of declining market values, your loan balance is going up.

The risks of an Option ARM place you on a very slippery slope akin to betting your life savings on one company’s stock.  Most borrowers will suddenly be hit with “payment shock” as their payment is reset after a period of time has passed.  Option ARMs can negatively amortize up to 110-125% of the home’s appraised value at the time of purchase.  Once this happens, it caps, and the payments are amortized based on a normal 30 year period, or other similar terms.  Either way, most mortgagors (home owners) suddenly see their payments skyrocket to an unaffordable level.  That means distressed home-owners, which leads to loan mod applications, short sales, and foreclosure (in that order.)

What’s the Solution?

It’s time to get real about your money.  It’s time to get real about the future of our economy.  In the most uncertain economic times that we have known, with speculation that we’re entering the Greater Depression, and being witness to some of the most heinous fiscal decisions our federal government has ever considered, it’s time to get to work.  It’s time to start going without those little luxuries that you’re accustomed to.  Adjust your lifestyle to fit a greater vision of how you see yourself in the future and save your butt off.  Stop spending other people’s money with the justification that “it’s a low rate of interest,” or “it’s only $7.00/month extra,” or “I’ll just pay it off the next time I get paid.”  You may not get paid again, and then where will you be?

Don’t be fooled by what the optimists are saying.  We are not out of this mess yet, and it will be a long while before we ever see what we used to know as “normal” appreciation in the real estate market.  Bottom line?  This is going to hurt, for a while.

Echo Coffee, Finally Someone Did It Right

echo-coffee-exterior

I’m not sure what makes Starbucks so appealing to so many people, aside from the rinse/repeat consistency across the entire franchise. It’s more like a candy store than a coffee shop. When I picture a coffee shop, I can’t help but revert to memories of the old Brookshires, Bob’s Big Boy, Cocos, and Denny’s atmospheres. Granted, some of those are still around, but they’re no different than they were before. I would guess that the amount of coffee that these shops serve has dropped off dramatically since the introduction of mass-marketed franchise coffee houses.

Dating all the way back to the late 80′s early 90′s I can recall the bohemian atmosphere that Coffee Plantation offered with that edgy, young, artsy feel. Of course, I was younger, just leaving my teens when the majority of my play time was spent on Mill Avenue in Tempe, AZ, which is where the Coffee Plantation was, and is no longer. There are two locations remaining, but they’ve lost their appeal. I know that the owner is working on remodeling, but I have found a new place to lay my iGadgets.

Now that we have Starbucks, Seattle’s Best, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Coffee Plantation, and a myriad of gas stations with “gourmet coffee” being served daily, where is one supposed to turn?

Scottsdale finally has a great place to go to sit quietly with a genuine cup of coffee, individually dripped right in front of you to ensure consistency and a perfect experience.  The name of this place is Echo Coffee, owned and operated by Steve Belt, and he’s done it right.  From the roasting to the decor, this comfortable, easy-going, socially vibrant coffee shop is the perfect solution to a stale work-at-home environment.  And if you’re looking for lunch, you’ll be treated to an amazingly simple selection of healthy, organic salads, sandwiches and pastries created specifically for Echo Coffee by Carylann Wooten, formerly of Liberty Market in Gilbert, Arizona.

If you’re someone who enjoys a mellow atmosphere with good coffee, a young professional clientele, and ne’er the sound of a blender, then Echo Coffee should fit well into your day.

Coffee Plantation Locks Down WIFI

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I recently wrote an article about Coffee Plantation because it’s where I typically go when I need to get out of the house and get on the internet. Today, I purchased my $2.00 coffee (amazing profit margin) and was asked by the Barrista if I had a code?

Me: A code?

Barrista: Yeah, for the internet.

Me: (setting my witty comments aside) No, I don’t. When did you start doing that?

Barrista: Today.

Me: Was there a particular reason you decided to lock the network down? (Thinking it probably makes sense)

Barrista: Well, there were too many people just sitting around using the internet without purchasing anything and it slows down the internet for everyone who is a paying customer.

Me: (thinking initially, That’s not very cool. Coffee shops are supposed to have free internet.) Oh, okay.

The Barrista handed me a little piece of paper with a 10-digit code on it, then clarified that the zero was a zero and not an “O”. Do people really not know the difference between an O and a zero? Anyway…

…so I got my code and I got on the internet, and then I started thinking about the new security measures, and I recalled a few conversations I had recently about how these store-front coffee shops in high rent areas stay in business when the majority of their patrons sit around and cruise the net all day. Prior to today, I could simply sit here, not buy anything, and use the internet. I don’t do that, but it was possible.

(on a side note, Coffee Plantation finally added a flavored coffee of the day since the new owner took over. I like it. Today it’s Irish Creme. Yesterday it was Creme Brulee)

Problem 1

How does the coffee shop police the code that they just gave me? I can post it here, on twitter, and I can staple it to my forehead.

Problem 2

When the code changes, who’s going to let me know about it? It seems like a decision that includes too much high maintenance to actually be effective.

Solution

Here’s where my innovative mind kicks in. Design a wireless router that works in tandem with a networked cash register, yet works like a Guest Gate access point securing the internal network from the patrons. Every day, the wireless router generates a new code after closing. When a patron purchases something, the cash register accesses the router and looks up that code, then delivers the code on the receipt.

Now, that brings up the problem of receipts, which nobody needs to be printing any more. So how would the code get from the cash register to the patron without printing? How about text messaging? How do we get the phone number to the cash register? Not sure, but it can happen.

All in all, I think I’m okay with the network being locked down for patrons only. It makes me feel a bit more important. Now they just need to make it cooler.

Coffee Plantation: Outdated, Old, Boring

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coffeplantation“More Than Just Great Coffee.”

That’s the claim that I read when I walk into Coffee Plantation at Shea Blvd and Scottsdale Road in the Harkin’s Shea 14 plaza.  What I haven’t yet figured out is, what more?  What more than coffee do they offer besides free WI-FI?

You can typically find me at this Coffee Plantation on most weekdays for one simple reason, and it isn’t the coffee.

Free internet.  That’s the real reason I’m here.  There is no other draw.  Not the food, not the coffee, and definitely not the service.

My overall experience at the Coffee Plantation began in the late 80′s on Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona.  It was a hip, up and coming place to hang out with my friends between high school and college, and provided a very eclectic atmosphere for various artistic types of which I was anxious to become.

Today, that shop is gone, but some of the other locations are still open.  I’m not sure why.  If this location closed down, I wouldn’t be heartbroken.  Inza Coffee, which was located at Loop 101 and Shea Blvd closed down last year, and most of the people who went there migrated to the next best choice which is where I sit and write today.  I’ve spent a vast majority of my working hours here because I get free internet and it’s close, and primarily because we don’t have much of a choice in this neck of the woods.  So, as a result, lots of business meetings occur here.

So what’s wrong with it, you ask?

Well, there are a list of things that just annoy the crap out of me about this place.  The decor feels like an old McDonalds.  The employees are more interested in socializing with each other rather than tending to the clientele.  There have been too many changes of ownership and too much behind-the-counter drama.  Half of the establishment has a poor WI-FI signal.  The other half is too cold.  People smoke outside the doors and nobody says anything.  They still require a signature for a $2.00 credit card purchase.  The lunch menu is expensive and not worth the price.  They play CD’s and their CD player is ancient, skipping on at least one if not more of each song on each CD.  Ever heard of an iPod?  Tables aren’t bussed.  Every day it seems the owner is meeting with someone about the business, which gives me the impression that they’re hurting.  The wait staff, oh wait, did I go there already?  They’re all nice people, but they’re more concerned with who’s getting more hours than who’s paying their bills…that would be me, the customer.

I honestly have no idea how coffee shops stay in business short of the $4.00 blended drinks which are of no value to me.  Coffee Plantation has a direct walk-through door to the G-Spot, where you can get overpriced Italian ice-cream, and another door down is Pita Jungle, which seems to be doing it all right.  If it weren’t for the traffic that these other businesses generated, I’m not so sure CP would still be here.

If something better comes along, I’m sure you’ll find me there rather than here, cause this place is getting old.  Even with recent attempts to make it more “cozy” by adding a sofa, large cushy chairs, and a divan, it’s still the same old grungy, wicker-chair wielding, cold feet, no-power-outside, coffee shop that feels like a fast food restaurant.

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