Giant Robot Store and GR2 News
Starbucks in China is becoming huge. 500 shops in China, and they’re doing better than shops in the US in terms of profit. Yes, labor and material has to be much cheaper for this to be so, if it’s also written that its sales are considerably lower! They can also charge more in China. According to USA Today, “Carrying a Starbucks cup is seen as a status symbol, a way to demonstrate sophistication and the capability to afford a personal luxury for the up-and-coming middle class in China.” (USA Today – Starbucks) No matter how it’s working, it’s actually becoming a bigger success as compared to many fast food outlets who focused on speed and efficiency over comfort and luxury – which is what some of China wants.
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Coffee in China. Instead of tea crops, coffee is where the money is at. Like all things, when it’s not working you have to change it. Yunnan was once a tea capital, to the point of building shapes, proper names, all worked to make it a tea like atmosphere. Perhaps it was just for good luck or the tiny bits of marketing, but now, it’s becoming a coffee area and growing. The Economist mentions, “A family with a hectare of coffee can earn more than $10,000 a year, triple the amount for tea, and five times more than for maize or rice” It’s growing. We can’t wait to see Yunnan written on a bag of coffee sitting next to Ethiopia and Honduras. It’s a changing world. (Economist – Coffee in China)
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Coffee culture isn’t just a Euro or American thing, it’s hit Japan for sure, but also Korea. Where tea is often thought of as the hot beverage of choice, it’s slowly being crept upon by coffee. Part of the thanks might be a TV show. Balita.com writes: “A wildly popular 2007 TV series called The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince, for example, has been widely credited for kickstarting the coffee craze in the country, as much of the drama unfolded in a coffee shop. The series was also dubbed over in Spanish and aired in countries like Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela.” Korean American Coffee houses are already evident and growing. Shops are appearing in Los Angeles over the last year or two boasting hand crafted coffees. Meanwhile, there’s been more appearances of coffee in Korean dramas and the coffee consumption is growing.
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I squeezed in another piece that’ll be up in Balconi Coffee today. This one is titled, “Cat Sitting on Two Blocks”. It’s made from Sculpey, wood, and acrylic paint. The wood blocks are ancient. I bought a box of wood blocks at a yard sale perhaps a decade ago. I can’t recall who, but someone said it was clutter but look at it now. I discovered Sculpey from playing with it with Souther Salazar and Saelee Oh. We’d have Sculpey nights and dubbed it Sculpey Kids. We’d have others come as well and it was always fun. I haven’t touched it in years. Kika, my cat is inspecting the piece. Below: this is is a Ray Sato art at Balconi Coffee. While this special drink isn’t on the menu, it was made especially for me and it was the first time Ray ever made it. I’m getting it again. Thanks Kio Griffiths for inviting me into an art show. Sometimes, getting an invite to something sparks ideas that lead to other ideas.
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I’m not sure if this will scare the shit out of you, or vice versa, but the world of bathroom decor will never be the same. There are some of these at ski resorts in Japan and it’s by Georgia Max Coffee. The idea satisfies a lot of things with bathrooms and coffee and adrenalin. You can make the connections easily. (Divine Caroline – Coffee)
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