Local Coffee Shops Fight Starbucks Opening in Old Town

Owners of the two local independent coffee shops, Javatinis and Bogart’s Coffee House, are teaming up to roast plans to open a Starbucks in place of the old Daily Grind in the Pavilions parking lot on Pacific Coast Highway.

Rob Jahncke of Javatinis started the movement by putting together a petition and gathering signatures against the mega-chain. It sits on his counter with more than 250 signatures, and another sits on the counter of Bogart’s down the street. Jahncke plans to lobby the Seal Beach Planning Commission at Wednesday night’s meeting as the commission votes on the Starbucks proposal.

Jahncke said he opposes the rival chain because it detracts from the unique character of Seal Beach’s downtown, home to homegrown coffee houses such as Bogart’s and Javatinis.

“We are both independent coffee places. It’s a ma-and-pa kind of feel,” he said. “We have a lot of independent shops here. Main Street is not lined with a bunch of corporate places, and that is a unique quality of Seal Beach.”

Jahncke, who began his petition about one week ago, said, “I like seeing the small town feel, and I think that Starbucks takes away from that.”

He cites other concerns besides aesthetics. The proposed Starbucks would not only take over the current vacant business but also expand it in size.

According to Jim Basham, community development director for the city of Seal Beach, the increased vehicle traffic to that area is reason for caution.

“We are recommending the denial of Starbucks moving into that structure,” he said. “One of the issues is vehicular traffic concerns.”

Basham said that Starbucks extending the drive-thru would block pedestrian traffic as well. When you create a drive-thru, you want to make sure cars waiting in line are not interfering with surrounding traffic needs, like parking, he said.

“It doesn’t have clear patterns of direction for where folks could walk,” he said.

Representatives of the proposed Starbucks will ask the city for a conditional use permit during a planning commission meeting on Wednesday, 7 p.m. at 211 Eighth St.

A spokesperson for the chain could not be reached Tuesday.

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