SEQUIM — The pineapple passion coffee cake is baked. The pomegranate Frappuccino juice is blended, and the stream of caffeine seekers has arrived.
The Peninsula’s first freestanding Starbucks opened Friday at 1095 W. Washington St., marking another step in the Seattle company’s march toward market domination worldwide.
As in 30,000 stores by 2011.
Currently, 10,500 Starbucks stores are spread across the world.
The Sequim cafe, with its drive-through window, Chuck Berry CDs and 21 staffers the company calls “partners,” enjoyed immediate popularity.
Dan Lawrence, in Sequim on vacation from Boston, pulled in and pronounced it wonderful. He sat on the patio near Ethan Schwab, a 20-year-old who grew up in Sequim.
Finishing his beverage, Schwab said he’s OK with the arrival of another big chain store. Still, he said he hopes Sequim’s big-box bonanza slows down.
Not this summer. Petco opened a week ago, just across the parking lot from Starbucks; Costco Wholesale is next on Aug. 17.
Starbucks will be “very involved with the community,” promised Jervis Pereira, a district manager who added that he’s scouting other locations on the Peninsula.
Port Angeles scouted
Port Townsend has been chain-averse, he said, but the company is scouting two possible spots in Port Angeles.
The Starbucks counters inside the Sequim, Port Townsend and Port Angeles’ Third Street Safeway stores will carry on as usual.
A freestanding Starbucks will open this fall in Belfair, Pereira added.
