As much as I drink German-brewed coffee (particularly at German bakery operations)....on some rare occasions, I will stop and have a brewed ice tea (black) at Starbucks in Wiesbaden.
Yeah, I admit....it's a costly cup of grande ice tea....in the three Euro fifty range ($4.00).
The Starbucks in question? At the Lillen-Carre Center, adjacent to the Wiesbaden train-station.
Well....up until this past month.
Apparently, that Starbucks shut down. I stood there....admiring the chairs and furniture being dragged out last week.
Two decades ago....this whole building was non-existent, and the old city post office rested on the property. Some commercial developers came along....bought the property and had these fantastic ideas that you could build this dynamic center adjacent to the train station, and people would come.
There is no ice rink, or multi-plex theater connected to the center. In the very beginning, they had around six to eight eating establishments, and near thirty sales shops.
They came to some point around five years ago where it was obvious that customer traffic was dismal and they were seeking some new model of operation to make the mall attract people. There's some renovation underway now, but you just shake your head over the whole idea that people would get off the train and walk over to shop before going home. So far, no one can show such a behavior exists for Wiesbaden.
Starbucks now in Wiesbaden? Now just one (two if you count the Army BX). There are certain American franchise operations that I just don't see having that much success in Germany....and Starbucks is one of those ideas. German bakery operations can offer premium coffee for regular prices, and it's hard to get some German to go along with paying extra....for coffee that they could buy for less.
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