Mocha My Day owner Brad Mamer said he isn't worried about the competition from a Starbucks opening next to the Lodi Stadium 12 theater in Downtown Lodi. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Starbucks spills beans on downtown location

A long-brewing rumor boiled over Wednesday morning when Starbucks Coffee announced it would be opening a store this spring near the Lodi Stadium 12 Theater on School Street in Downtown Lodi.

The coffee giant will set up shop at the corner of School and Elm streets in the building previously occupied by Me-n-Ed's Slices pizza restaurant, said Starbucks District Manager Terry Louwerens. The store, which will be the second Starbucks location in the city, is scheduled to open in mid-May.

The new Starbucks would be the third coffee shop within a two-block radius in Downtown Lodi. Mocha My Day Coffee resides less than two blocks from the theater on School Street, and between the two sits Tillie's Coffee, Tea, Etc. on Pine Street.

Rumors linking Starbucks to Downtown Lodi have percolated for years among the local business community. Brad Mamer has heard gossip linking the coffee chain to various downtown locations for "at least six" of the seven years since he opened Mocha My Day, but Wednesday was the first time Starbucks acknowledged plans for the new location.

"I wish them luck," Mamer said with a grin. "They're going to need it."

Though Starbucks is likely to take a slice of business from other cafes and restaurants in the area, it probably won't put people out of business, Mamer said. Mocha My Day has gone up against other coffee shops in the past and survived, he said.

"If I was worried about them, I'd sell tomorrow," Mamer said. "If it went right across this street, I could care less."

Tillie Easterling, who opened Tillie's nearly four years ago, said it was only a matter of time before the coffee giant found its way downtown. She's not afraid of losing customers to another cafe; in fact, she said its presence might draw new business to her doorstep.

"There might be a few of (Tillie's customers) that prefer Starbucks, and Starbucks customers that prefer Tillie's," Easterling said.

Louwerens thinks the new Starbucks will be able to "coexist and share" with other coffee houses in the area.

"I think there's plenty of room in Lodi for healthy competition," Louwerens said. "Our goal is never to put anyone out of business."

Louwerens announced the School Street store at a Lodi Chamber of Commerce breakfast Wednesday morning. Starbucks had received numerous requests for a downtown location -- "Even the mayor asked," she told the audience -- so it seemed to be a natural fit, she added.

"More than anything, the community has been asking us to come to the downtown area," Louwerens said. "We've been trying to meet the needs of the downtown community."

Starbucks' familiar green logo would inject a corporate identity into a downtown featuring primarily locally owned businesses. Mamer claims the city wants more brand-name retail outlets in Downtown Lodi to bring more shoppers to the area.

"The city wants a Starbucks," Mamer said. "They want a big name down here because they think it will draw people. Unfortunately, they've lost sight of the fact that mom and pop places have kept this place going all these years."

The downtown area has undergone a revitalization over the past few years, and drawing interest from a nationally recognized chain such as Starbucks bodes well for the area's perception, said Pamela Hayn, executive director of the Downtown Lodi Business Partnership. She would like to see more widely recognized outlets in the area, though not at the expense of locally owned businesses.

"I would like to see a really nice complement of both," Hayn said. "I think part of Lodi's charm are the smaller antique and collectible type of stores, but we have a unique quality that could support both."