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Print this pageHypes and Gripes
• Gripes to people who insist on drinking Starbucks. Interesting local places like Cassil’s Coffee Café are closing, yet you insist on standing in a six-person-deep line to pay $5 for a chain mocha in a kiosk that has been squeezed into a Price Cutter’s produce section? Just when you start to have some faith in Springfield…
• Hypes to High Life owner Scott Dickinson for seeing the light and making live, local music a part of his business plan—and investing in the equipment to do it right.
• Hypes to the staff at the Cox North ER. Say what you will about hospitals north of Sunshine Street, but a recent Friday night trip for a chronic bleeding nose turned out to be the fastest 15-minute medical outing of our lives. We were in, admitted, treated, and released (they looked at us with a bit of amazement when we presented an actual insurance card and credit card for the co-pay) in less time than it would have taken to drive to the south side.
• At long last, Hypes to the Springfield-Greene County Parks Department for opening the Cruse Dog Park. It’s a place for people to take their dogs to play without the constraint of a leash. Now if we can just train the public to train their dogs how to behave, and know when it’s time to take them home (hint: the red rocket).
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Reader Comments:
If these "local" coffee places didnt have prices that compared to Starbucks, or were located more in the mainstream of the business district, maybe more folks might frequent them, but for the price, we'll take something familiar.
that's crazy. south street, battlefield, park central square... how much more centrally located and explicitly IN a business district could they get? as 'convenient' as campbell and sunshine is (who wouldn't like to fight bass pro/mcdonalds traffic for coffee?), that just doesn't make sense. I've also never, ever, ever meet a starbucks 'barista' who had the foggiest notion of how to properly steam a breve. they always scorch it! six states and counting! argh!
Hey, I like the local coffee places...I've been going to the Mudhouse for years, and their Tiger Spice Chai is the best chai I've had in Springfield. However, if I want a hot drink and am in the vicinity of a Starbucks, I will go there. I don't see what the big deal is. Honestly, their customer service trumps that of most local places, in my opinion. The baristas have been extremely upbeat and positive every time I have been to any Springfield location, which is more than I can say for some of the snobby baristas at local joints. Sorry, but the Starbucks baristas are just nicer. To me, that counts. And to the people who say we should only support local coffee houses and not Starbucks, well, I hope you only eat at locally owned restaurants and shop at locally owned stores. I better not catch you at Wal-Mart!