[SteelTown]

Starbucks to open new store on Locke Street

Lisa Grace Marr
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jan 11, 2008)

It's official.

After months of rumours swirling like cream in a Caffe Mocha, Starbucks is arriving on Locke Street in late March.

Shannon Leisz, new store marketing manager for Starbucks Canada, confirmed the store's upcoming opening in an exclusive interview with The Hamilton Spectator.

The stand-alone store, a first for Hamilton, will be located in the former Robert David menswear store at the corner of Locke and Chatham.

Leisz said Starbucks decided to open the store on Locke because it met all the criteria for a great cafe: location, traffic, visibility (on a corner near Main) and convenience for customers.

"At Starbucks we're always looking for great new locations, we look at a lot of things. This is an interesting part of the city."

The store itself at 2,100 square feet, affords enough space for comfy chairs, space enough to give the full "Starbucks experience. "This location will be a great place to do homework, go for a first date, grab a latte and make those connections," said Leisz.

The company is planning to hire 15 to 20 full and part-time staffers from Hamilton, with a job fair planned at the Ancaster Chapters Starbucks on Feb. 5.

Leisz said every site is carefully evaluated and while Starbucks is always on the lookout for new sites, she said it's not clear if there's enough demand for another Starbucks in Hamilton.

The chain has 786 Starbucks stores in Canada -- more than 550 are company-operated and more than 200 are licensed stores in Canada, included those in Chapters/Indigo.

In Hamilton, there are three locations in (Ancaster Chapters, Stoney Creek and Upper James), but the Locke Street store marks the first in the lower city.

There are seven stores in Burlington.

The closest new store opened in Brantford in November.

When Starbucks moves into a neighbourhood, it's a thumbs-up for area, say local real estate agents.

"They shop around for a long time when looking at a market," said Marcel Leclerc, owner of Heritage Realty, which just opened an office on Locke. "They're very shrewd."

Judy Marsales, whose realty firm is also opening another office on Locke this spring, said a new Starbucks is an affirmation of Locke's success.

"What it does is it shows Locke Street's energy is contagious," she said. "We've noticed different swings over the years on Locke and during the last couple there's been this incredible vitality."

However, a new Starbucks does not necessarily directly translate to higher real estate prices, agents say.

Marsales said Hamilton's market is still playing catch-up to the that of the GTA, so that it's hard to determine if there is one particular cause of stronger pricing.

Neil Everson, director of economic development for the city, said it could be a reflection of the changing demographic of Locke, with a surge in Toronto residents and the potential for scientists eventually working at the planned CANMET site at Innovation Park.

"It's the changing face of Hamilton."