Indianapolis is My Home

21
Jul

Starbucks Closing 12 Indianapolis Area Stores

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Carmel, Coffee Shops, Downtown, Greenwood, Indianapolis Area, Keystone, News, Northwest Side, Real Estate, Speedway, West Side

When I first heard about the news that Starbucks has finally appeared to out-grow their britches, I thought I’d read that there weren’t any Indianapolis stores closing. As the image above humorously depicts skewing the original imagery by M.C. Escher, Starbucks always seemed to be everywhere. Between their actual stores and their little satellite stores located in other stores, they’re everywhere!

At one point in our lives, my brothers and I have all worked at a Starbucks store. My middle brother went the furthest with it as he actually opened a new store, which I think is one of the ones being closed now, which doesn’t make any sense to me.

Here are some of the soon to be closed locations:

• College Avenue & Fall Creek Parkway
• 38th and Meridian St
• 3855 E. 96th Street
• 9642 Allisonville Rd.
• 5060 W. 38th St.
• 5945 Crawfordsville Rd
• 3021 W 16th St
• 3801 S. Keystone Ave
• Merchant Square in Carmel
• US 31 & Fry Road in Greenwood
• Albany & 17th St in Beech Grove
• Metropolis Mall 2499 Futura Parkway in Plainfield

I had a Starbucks coffee for the first time in quite awhile on Thursday night. I’ve been cutting back on my coffee purchases in general, but when I do have a drink it’s been purchased from local coffee shop the vast majority of the time.

All-in-all I think closing a number of stores is a great move for Starbucks. I’m sure it will be a great opportunity for local shops and even Dunkin Donuts to make more of run for market share as well.

From my time working at the SBUX though, I think they’re a great company to work for that seems to care about their employees and work with them to keep balance in their lives.

Story Source: Grinding to a halt: 12 local Starbucks
Image Source: MIT Laboratory for Branding Cultures

13
Jun

The Bean Cup - It’s a Must!

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business Entrepreneurs, Coffee Shops, Greenwood, Local Artists, Local Businesses, Local Musicians, South Side, Things To Do in Indy

After hearing about The Bean Cup a couple of different times from fellow Indianapolis blogger, Douglas Karr, I decided the next time I worked remotely I’d stop by for a visit.

I stopped in this afternoon to get some work done and try out their version of my favorite drink, a chai tea latte. I little darker than my favorite at my other remote office location (I feel dirty, like I’m cheating on my friends there).

I got to meet the two owners, Chris and Jason Carr. A great couple and seem to totally love what they’re doing with running The Bean Cup. The initiating factor to our conversation was that I thought it was cool they they run a place called “The Bean Cup” and their names are Chris and Jason. If you haven’t noticed yet, my name is Jason and my brother’s name is Chris and our last name is “Bean”.

The other very interesting thing I learned today was about Douglas Karr, who’s affectionately referred to as “Norm” at The Bean Cup. Himself, Jason Carr and two other individuals and The Bean Cup, was recently featured in BusinessWeek. The group is competing in the Cisco I-Prize competition. Really cool!

The opening paragraph of the article lays everything out beautifully:

The Bean Cup, a coffee house on the southern edge of Indianapolis, is about as far as you get from Silicon Valley, culturally speaking. Shoehorned between an Arthur Murray Dance studio and a shuttered beauty salon in a nondescript strip mall, the Bean Cup bears faint resemblance to the storied Palo Alto work-play spaces where coders spend all night building what they hope will be the next big thing in tech. That’s not stopping Douglas Karr, a bearded, burly Gulf War vet, from using the Bean Cup to incubate his own big tech dreams.

Later on that afternoon I had an iced white-chocolate blackberry latte ( I think that’s what it was) that was delicious as well. The atmosphere is great, they seem to have a very diverse client base so I think everyone would be happy here if you love great coffees and tea and more.

Similarly to The Strange Brew they also feature artistic works from local artists which you can buy right off the wall if you find something you like. The only challenge I noticed was the same challenge I find with every location offering free wi-fi, FAR TOO FEW POWER PLUG ACCESS!!! The Carrs said they’ll be working on that soon so they will be no reason to not go visit and get some work done of your own.

All in all the final score is that the south side of Indianapolis has two great options for locally owned coffee shops where local artists (both artistic and music) can showcase their talents as well as connect with the community around us.

If you’re on the south side of Indy around the Greenwood Mall, stop by The Bean Cup and get your java fix there. If you’re further south, stop on by The Strange Brew. If you’re a regular customer of one already, give the other a try and spread the love. Don’t worry, St. Arbuck’s will get along without you and these local business owners will be more than happy to serve you some great coffee.

09
Oct

Support Your Local Java Joint

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Areas, Business, Business Entrepreneurs, Coffee Shops, Local Establishments

I’ve been known to partake in a cup of coffee on a regular basis. My kick right now is Chai though and I’ve been selecting it over a cup o’ joe when the opportunity is available.

One of my favorite places to get a chai is at Strange Brew in Greenwood. Their vanilla almond chai is fantastic and free wi-fi makes it all better. The fact they have a giant aquarium is also a plus since I’ve been a fish freak since grade school.

The benefit though is that I’m also supporting a local business owner with their efforts. A post on the I Choose Indy site today shares that a person has put together a Google Map listing Indianapolis’ independent coffee purveyors so you can help support local businesses too.

And to help spread the love, I’ve posted the map here: Indy Indie Coffee Shops. Use the map to find your own little corner of caffeinated Heaven, and spread the word. If you have a new coffee shop, or one that’s opening soon (I’m talking to you, Corner Coffee. Come back quick!), let me know, and I’ll add it to the map. The same goes if I missed one, or inadvertently put a business on here that doesn’t sell coffee.

It would be nice on the Google Map if he colored the coffee shops differently that offered free wi-fi.

I’m not going to swear off St. Arbucks yet, but like a good chai, when I’ve got the option I’m going to start actively looking for the local company first.

11
Jul

It’s a Mobile Day Today

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Coffee Shops, Local Artists, People

Today was an interesting day for me. I was like a little geeky, nomad wandering the Indianapolis byways looking for a free wi-fi to get some work done.

Actually I wasn’t looking, I ventured out to a couple of my favorite places and connected right up and got down to business.

First I started off at Strange Brew coffee shop (their MySpace page) on the far south side of Greenwood. It’s located in a little strip of commercial stores on Smith Valley Road, just east of Morgantown Road. This has become one of my favorite places to hang-out when I need to get some work done, but don’t want to drive into the office. I come here when I can’t focus at home and get stuff done. My drink of choice is the Large Vanilla Almond Chai, which is absolutely delicious and I highly recommend.

It of course helps my opinion of the place since they have a very large aquarium that I can listen to bubbling while I work. One of the other things I love is that they showcase different artist’s work on a rotating basis. Right now they’ve got pictures from a photographer named Travis Taylor I believe. He’s done some really great stuff with photographs and matting with writing over the mat and sometimes even the photograph itself.

Around lunchtime I headed a little ways east on Smith Valley road and landed at Qdoba Mexican Grill. They also offer free wi-fi, but more importantly a Naked Queso Chicken Burrito with fiery habanero salsa. Their China Mist Jasmine tea is one of my favorite drinks among all restaurant chains as well.

Where are some of your favorite places in the city to go for some free wi-fi, amazing atmospher and all-around laid back couple of hours?