New Mexico Starbucks gets nickname 'Charbucks' after arson attacks By Reuters

By Andrew Hay

TAOS, New Mexico (Reuters) – After two arson attacks at a Starbucks construction site in Taos, New Mexico, a developer is trying again to build the chain's first drive-thru cafe in the mountain town with a history of riots and opposition from some to national chains.

Residents of this community of 6,500 quickly came up with a nickname for the future coffee shop: “Charbucks.” Meanwhile, the construction contractor from Albuquerque, the state's largest city, has installed video cameras and a security guard sleeps on site in a camouflaged trailer.

Just over a mile north of the site of the store, which Starbucks hopes to open in spring 2025, customers of one of Taos’ oldest independent coffee shops are remaining silent about the attacks.

“We don't know who made it, but we loved it,” said Todd Lazar, a holistic healer, as he chatted with other regulars on a bench outside the World Cup, just off Taos' central plaza.

The conversation echoes criticism Starbucks faced when it expanded into Europe and Asia that the American coffee chain clashes with local culture and siphons money from communities. Starbucks operates or has licenses to operate about 39,500 cafes around the world.

Stickers plastered on local businesses show the Starbucks logo, which features a mermaid, on fire, with the mermaid's face replaced by La Calavera Catrina, a skull character associated with Mexico's Day of the Dead and that country's national identity.

After the first fire in August 2023, the word “NO” preceded by an expletive was spray-painted on the partially burned structure that was intended to be a Starbucks.

From the 1680 rebellion of indigenous people against Spanish settlement, to the 1847 Taos Rebellion against American occupation, and most recently, an arson attack on a development magnate and opposition to ski resort development by a billionaire, the people of Taos have resisted outside forces.

“Taos is a dynamic and volatile contact zone between different groups, imperial powers and ecotones,” said Sylvia Rodriguez, a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of New Mexico who has conducted research in her hometown of Taos for decades.

Located 7,000 feet (2,134 meters) above sea level in the high mountain desert of northern New Mexico, Taos is known for its UNESCO World Heritage-listed Native American settlement, arts scene and steep ski slopes.

The area also has deep social inequalities and disconnection between indigenous, Hispanic (descendants of settlers) and other communities, with the highest property crime rate in New Mexico.

People like Lazar worry that a wave of remote workers during and after the pandemic is driving demand for national chains and exacerbating the housing shortage common in tourist towns across the Western United States.

The Taos City Council supported the store on the grounds that it would provide jobs and tax revenue, according to Christopher Larsen, the city's economic development director.

“IT'S NOT GOOD”

Andrea Meyer, owner of the World Cup, said jobs were not the problem.

“People come in and say, 'I'd love to work here, but I can't afford to live here,'” said Meyer, who runs a cash-only coffee shop with no Wi-Fi to encourage customers to talk to each other.

Few working households can afford the median home price of $460,000 in Taos. About a third of the homes are vacant, some as second homes and vacation homes, others after traditional Hispanic families left the area or for other reasons, according to census data.

Two or three national chains backed out of Taos projects after Starbucks caught fire for a second time on Oct. 23, 2023, according to Larsen.

“The feeling is that Taos doesn't want corporate America,” he said.

Starbucks spokesman Sam Jefferies said employee safety was their top priority and they would work closely with police once the store reopened. No one was injured in the fires.

The city has approved the opening of two Starbucks stores in two supermarkets. Jefferies said the performance of coffee shops in nearby towns was a factor in deciding whether to open a store in Taos.

According to press reports over the past three decades, Taos appears to be the only place in the world where a future Starbucks coffee shop has been burned to the ground.

Neither contractor Hart Construction nor Arizona-based developer and building owner Clint Jameson responded to requests for comment. On his company's website, Jameson, who plans to lease the property to Starbucks, describes himself as “relentless” and a “development maverick.”

The city and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives have offered a $30,000 reward for information about the fires. Police believe they know the culprit or culprits but lack evidence placing them at the scene during the fires, Larsen said. Taos Police Chief John Wentz declined to comment. ATF spokesman Cody said Monday that the agency was still following leads and searching for the suspect or suspects.

At the Coffee Apothecary, a mile south of the city's central plaza, owner Pablo Flores vouched for demand for Starbucks-like drinks, such as frozen caramel frappés, which he tells disappointed customers he doesn't serve.

The specialty coffee roaster lamented the uniformity of the national chains springing up south of the city, but detested their destruction. He said the fires are an example of how dialogue has broken down amid political polarization across the country.

“Taos is changing and if you don't like how it's changing, don't support that business,” said Flores, whose family has lived in Taos for generations. “Don't burn it down, that's not right.”