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. check/money order.Customers pack into the downtown Pomona Starbucks at mid-afternoon Monday.
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